Vania Leveille

1 month ago | aclu.org | Vania Leveille |Zoe Brennan-Krohn

Congress is gearing up to cut hundreds of billions in funding for Medicaid. It’s happening right under our noses, and our rights depend on our ability to stop it.

Jul 20, 2023 | aclu.org | Kendall Ciesemier |Gillian Thomas |Vania Leveille

On Tuesday, June 27, more than a decade after its first introduction in a congressional committee, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act went into effect, changing the landscape of work for all pregnant people. Before this law, many pregnant workers had to decide between protecting their jobs and protecting their health. While there have been efforts in the past to protect pregnant workers, employers have always found loopholes to avoid providing accommodations.

Jun 28, 2023 | commondreams.org | Gillian Branstetter |HIV Project |Vania Leveille

Tuesday marked a historic moment in the lives of our nation’s pregnant workers: After more than a decade of advocacy on Capitol Hill, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), signed by President Joe Biden in December 2022, went into effect. PWFA mandates “reasonable accommodations” for pregnant workers unless providing them would impose an “undue hardship” on their employer.

Jun 28, 2023 | commondreams.org | Gillian Branstetter |HIV Project |Vania Leveille

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Jun 27, 2023 | aclu.org | Gillian Branstetter |Vania Leveille

Even after the Supreme Court’s 2015 Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc. ruling clarified that employers must have a compelling reason for denying accommodations to pregnant workers while granting them to others, employers — and judges — continued to withhold them. One study found that more than two-thirds of workers brought PDA failure-to-accommodate claims after Young lost their court cases. ACLU client Michelle Durham was one of them.