Earlier this week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled that seventeen state attorneys general have standing to challenge the EEOC’s Final Rule interpreting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA).  

As the first federal court to rule on the issue, the Court found that the states have a judicial basis for challenging the Final Rule as they are the “object of the EEOC’s regulatory action.” The PWFA was enacted in 2023 as a means of providing employees and applicants with reasonable accommodations to known limitations related to, affected by, or arising out of “pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,” unless doing so would cause the employer undue hardship.  

The broad nature of the PWFA and its lack of specificity in defining “related medical conditions” opened the door to even broader EEOC interpretation and guidance. At the heart of the controversy is the fact that the EEOC’s Final Rule includes accommodation requirements for elective abortions, “prompted exclusively by the woman’s choice, where no ‘physical or mental condition related to, affected by, or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions…’ exists, but where getting the abortion creates some limitations on the employee’s ability to do her job.” This in turn led several states to challenge the EEOC’s rulemaking authority.   

With the issue of standing resolved, the states will continue to move their case forward.