HR Alert

Nevada Enacts Pregnant Workers' Fairness Act

Law Contains Notice and Posting Requirements

Nevada has enacted the Pregnant Workers' Fairness Act. Highlights of the law are presented below.

Prohibited Employer Actions
Under the law, employers with 15 or more employees are generally prohibited from refusing to provide a reasonable accommodation to a female employee or applicant upon request of the employee or applicant for a condition relating to her pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition--unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the employer's business.

Covered employers are also generally prohibited from taking an adverse employment action against a female employee because she requests or uses a reasonable accommodation for her condition relating to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition (e.g., refusing to promote the employee, requiring the employee to transfer to another position, refusing to reinstate the employee to the same or an equivalent position upon return to work, or taking any other action which affects the terms or conditions of employment in a manner which is not desired by the employee).

Additionally, covered employers are generally prohibited from: requiring a female employee or applicant who is affected by a condition relating to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition to accept an accommodation that the employee or applicant did not request or chooses not to accept; and/or requiring a female employee who is affected by a condition relating to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition to take leave from employment if a reasonable accommodation is available that would allow the employee to continue working.

Click here (section: 5) for additional prohibitions.

Interactive Process
If a female employee requests an accommodation for a condition relating to her pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition, the covered employer and employee must engage in a timely, good faith, and interactive process to determine an effective, reasonable accommodation for the employee. An accommodation may consist of a change in the work environment or in the way things are customarily carried out that allows the employee to have equal employment opportunities, including the ability to perform the essential function of the position and to have benefits and privileges of employment that are equal to those available to other employees.

A reasonable accommodation provided by a covered employer to a female applicant for employment which is based on a condition of the applicant relating to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition may consist of a modification to the application process or the manner in which things are customarily carried out that allows the applicant to be considered for employment or hired for a position.

Click here (section: 6) for more information on reasonable accommodations.

Notice and Posting Requirements
A covered employer must provide a written or electronic notice to employees that they have the right to be free from discriminatory or unlawful employment practices under state law. The notice must include a statement that a female employee has the right to a reasonable accommodation for her condition relating to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.

A covered employer must provide the notice required above at the following times:

  • To a new employee upon commencement of employment; and
  • Within 10 days after an employee notifies her immediate supervisor that she is pregnant.

A covered employer must also provide the written notice required above to its existing employees to inform them of certain rights under the new law.

Additionally, a covered employer must post the notice required above in a conspicuous place at the employer's place of business that is located in an area which is accessible to employees.

Further details are contained in the text of the law. The law contains various effective dates (see section: section: 19 and 20 of the law). Affected employers with questions about the law's impact on workplace policies and practices should contact a knowledgeable employment law attorney.


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