EEOC reportedly plans to narrow pregnant workers rules after midterms

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is preparing to narrow its rules under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, possibly as soon as November, The New York Times reported Nov. 2, citing seven people familiar with the plans, according to Medical Daily. The agency has not confirmed any changes, and no revised rule has been published.

The EEOC signaled a revision in a filing to the White House Office of Management and Budget, HR Dive reported. The agency intends to revise how it interprets “pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions,” and has not said what the changes will be. After publication in the Federal Register, the public can comment. The EEOC expects the comment period to end in January, HR Dive reported.

According to the Times account as summarized by Medical Daily, the agency could stop explicitly listing conditions that affect women who are not pregnant, such as fertility treatment, endometriosis and contraception use. It could also widen religious exemptions so employers could refuse accommodations they consider incompatible with their beliefs. Core protections for pregnant workers would not be removed under the Times account, Medical Daily reported.

Congress passed the law in December 2022, and it took effect June 27, 2023. It covers employers with 15 or more workers. The EEOC estimated it covers about 1.5 million pregnant workers in a given year, according to the Associated Press as cited by Medical Daily. The commission adopted its implementing rule in April 2024 in a 3-2 party-line vote. The rule defined “related medical conditions” broadly, including fertility treatment, endometriosis and contraception use.

EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas voted against that rule. In her April 2024 statement on the vote, she wrote that it “errs in conflating pregnancy and childbirth accommodation with accommodation of the female sex.” She gave examples including the heavy periods of a 14-year-old part-time fast-food worker, fatigue or headaches as a side effect of birth control, and the need for water breaks by a mother who is still breastfeeding. Lucas became acting chair in January 2025 and said the commission would reconsider portions of the rule she believes are unsupported by law, OnLabor reported. She has acknowledged she cannot rescind the rule alone, because the Administrative Procedure Act requires a commission vote and public notice and comment.

An EEOC spokesperson declined to comment on rulemaking deliberations, Medical Daily reported, and said Lucas “remains deeply committed to enforcing the laws that protect pregnant workers.” The spokesperson told HR Dive the agency has taken more than 40 public enforcement actions on pregnancy-related discrimination since the second Trump administration began, has filed 24 lawsuits and has obtained $1.6 million in relief for victims.

Jocelyn Samuels, a former EEOC vice chair who helped write the rule, told the Times that narrowing it could put workers at risk of losing jobs or facing health crises, particularly low-wage hourly workers, Medical Daily reported.

In May, 15 Democratic senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth and Chuck Schumer, wrote to Lucas urging her to drop any plan to remove fertility treatment from the rule. They warned that the change would make it “more likely that employers will illegally deny” women undergoing IVF their rights, the Common Dreams report said. Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, said: “It’s unconscionable to force workers to choose between the care they need and keeping their job.”

The rule has already been cut back in court. On May 21, 2025, a federal judge in Louisiana vacated its requirement to accommodate elective abortions. The ruling did not affect abortions that stem from treating a pregnancy-related medical condition, HR Dive reported. In 2024, more than half of about 100,000 public comments asked the agency to exclude abortion from “related medical conditions.”

The 2024 rule remains in effect, including its fertility-treatment coverage, until a new rule takes effect. Workers generally have 180 days to file an EEOC charge, or 300 days where a state or local agency enforces a similar law, Medical Daily reported.