Latest news with #PregnantWorkersFairnessAct
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Federal judge rules workplace abortion accommodations should be overturned
Sofia Resnick/States Newsroom A federal judge ruled this week that language accommodating abortion must be removed from the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Joseph in the Western District of Louisiana, Lake Charles division, ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to rewrite employer guidelines in a pregnant workers protection law, according to court documents. The statute requires employers with 15 or more staff to provide reasonable accommodations — think time off for appointments, additional rest breaks, a stool to sit on while working — for pregnancy, childbirth or related conditions, as long as the requests don't place 'undue hardship' on the company or organization. Joseph, who Republican President Donald Trump appointed during his first term. He ruled that former Democratic President Joe Biden's administration exceeded its authority by including abortion in rules finalized last year. 'This court's decision to deny workers reasonable accommodations for abortion-related needs is part of a broader attack on women's rights and reproductive freedom,' said Inimai Chettiar, the president of paid leave advocacy group A Better Balance, in a statement. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The ruling is a victory for state officials in Louisiana, Mississippi and a group of Catholic Church sued the EEOC over the inclusion of abortion in the guidelines, which the agency released in April 2024 following a lengthy public comment process, Illuminator reported. Roughly 54,000 Americans said abortion should be excluded from the definition of 'pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions,' while some 40,000 said pregnancy termination should be included. Lawyers for the states — both have near-total abortion bans — argued the rule doesn't align with the Dobbs v. Women's Health Organization decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, while Catholic groups said the abortion provision violates freedom of religion. 'This is a win for Louisiana and for life,' Republican Attorney General Liz Murrill said on social media. Several other lawsuits against the law are in play. A federal judge ruled in April that a separate group of Catholic employers do not have to protect their employees' access to abortion and fertility treatments, North Dakota Monitor reported. In February, another judge ruled that a lawsuit filed by 17 GOP attorneys general against the EEOC over abortion accommodations in the workplace can move forward, according to The Associated Press. And the Texas government and its agencies don't have to comply with any part of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. A judge temporarily blocked the law's enforcement in February 2024 after the attorney general argued it was unconstitutionally passed in December 2022 by proxy vote, The Texas Tribune reported.
Epoch Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Judge Strikes Federal Rule Requiring Employers to Accommodate Employee Abortions
A federal rule that required employers to give workers time off and other accommodations for abortions is illegal, a judge ruled on May 21. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) went beyond a law crafted by Congress—the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)—when it
Boston Globe
21-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Bitcoin hits new price highs as crypto industry scores wins
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up LABOR Advertisement Judge vacates federal rules requiring employers to provide accommodations for abortions The emblem of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is shown on a podium in Vail, Colo. David Zalubowski/Associated Press A federal judge on Wednesday struck down regulations requiring most US employers to provide workers with time off and other accommodations for abortions. The ruling by US District Judge David Joseph of the Western District of Louisiana was a victory for conservative lawmakers and religious groups who decried the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's decision to include abortion among pregnancy-related conditions in regulations on how to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which passed in December 2022. The EEOC's decision swiftly prompted several lawsuits and eroded what had been strong bipartisan support for the law designed to strengthen the rights of pregnant workers. Joseph, who was appointed by President Trump during his first term, ruled that the EEOC exceeded its authority by including abortion in its regulations. His ruling came in two consolidated lawsuits brought by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Mississippi, and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic University, and two Catholic dioceses. Joseph sided with the plaintiffs' argument that if Congress had intended for abortion to be covered by the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, 'it would have spoken clearly when enacting the statute, particularly given the enormous social, religious, and political importance of the abortion issue in our nation at this time.' — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement RETAIL Target sees sales falling this year as turnaround falters A Target store in Pleasant Hill, Calif. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Target's woes continue. The underperforming retailer has struggled with tariff-fueled anxiety among shoppers and protests in response to its retreat from diversity policies. On Wednesday, it again fell short of expectations for quarterly sales and slashed its full-year financial forecast. Target now expects a 'low-single digit decline' in sales this year, down from a projection a few months ago of a small gain. The gloomy forecast set Target apart from some of its competitors that have in recent days maintained their outlooks, even while warning of the risks and uncertainty generated by President Trump's tariffs. Comparable sales at Target last quarter, which ended May 3, fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier, reflecting both lower foot traffic and less spent per visit. The retailer's stock fell roughly 6 percent in early trading as investors digested the weaker-than-expected report. 'We're not satisfied with this performance,' Brian Cornell, Target's CEO, said on a call with analysts. — NEW YORK TIMES Advertisement REGULATION US takes another step toward opening the seabed for mining Commercial mining on the miles-deep Pacific Ocean floor came one step closer to reality with an announcement late Tuesday by the US Interior Department that it would evaluate a request from a California-based company to extract metals off the coast of American Samoa. The move follows an executive order last month that urged government agencies to expedite permits for seabed mining in US territorial waters as well as international waters. Most other nations argue that the United States does not have the legal right to mine the seabed beyond its own territorial waters. Parts of the ocean floor are blanketed by potato-size nodules containing valuable minerals like nickel, cobalt, and manganese that are essential to advanced technologies that the United States considers critical to its economic and military security. Supply chains of many of these valuable minerals are increasingly controlled by China. No commercial-scale mining of the seabed has ever taken place. The technological hurdles to seabed mining are high, and there have been serious concerns about the environmental consequences. Yet many countries have been impatient to get started as demand grows for the metals found there. — NEW YORK TIMES TECH OpenAI unites with Jony Ive in $6.5 billion deal to create AI devices Jony Ive. David Paul Morris/Photographer: David Paul Morris/ AI largely remains the domain of an app on phones, despite efforts by startups and others to move it into devices. Now OpenAI, the world's leading AI lab, is taking a crack at that riddle. On Wednesday, Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, said the company was paying $6.5 billion to buy io, a 1-year-old startup created by Jony Ive, a former top Apple executive who designed the iPhone. The deal, which effectively unites Silicon Valley royalty, is intended to usher in what the two men call 'a new family of products' for the age of artificial general intelligence, or AGI, which is shorthand for a future technology that achieves human-level intelligence. The deal, which is OpenAI's biggest acquisition, will bring in Ive and his team of about 55 engineers, designers, and researchers. They will assume creative and design responsibilities across OpenAI and build hardware that helps people better interact with the technology. — NEW YORK TIMES Advertisement TECH Nvidia's chief says US chip controls on China have backfired Jensen Huang, cofounder and CEO of Nvidia Corp., at a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday. I-HWA CHENG/AFP via Getty Images Lawmakers in Washington have worked for years to limit China's access to the cutting-edge computer chips needed for advanced artificial intelligence, particularly those made by Nvidia, America's leading chipmaker. But according to Nvidia's chief executive, Jensen Huang, those regulations, driven by economic and security concerns, have only made Chinese tech companies stronger. The export controls on chips forced Nvidia to forfeit its dominant position in China while domestic companies like Huawei, the telecommunications giant, filled the gap, Huang said at a news conference in Taipei, Taiwan's capital, on Wednesday. Washington's efforts gave Chinese companies 'the spirit, the energy and the government support to accelerate their development,' said Huang, who attended a tech conference in Taipei this week. 'All in all, the export control was a failure.' — NEW YORK TIMES MEDIA Major newspapers ran a summer reading list. AI made up its book titles. The Chicago Sun-Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer find themselves at the center of an AI-related gaffe after they published syndicated content packed with unidentifiable quotes from fake experts and imaginary book titles created using generative artificial intelligence. The articles were published in the papers' 'Heat Index' special sections — a multipage insert filled with tips, advice, and articles on summertime activities. The insert, which was published by the Sun-Times on Sunday and by the Inquirer on Thursday, was syndicated by King Features, a service from the Hearst media company that produces comics, puzzles, and supplemental material. (King Features did not respond to a request for comment.) 'It is unacceptable for any content we provide to our readers to be inaccurate. We value our readers' trust in our reporting and take this very seriously,' Victor Lim, senior director of audience development for Chicago Public Media, said in a statement. 'We've historically relied on content partners for this information, but given recent developments, it's clear we must actively evaluate new processes and partnerships to ensure we continue meeting the full range of our readers' needs,' he added. Lisa Hughes, the publisher and CEO of the Philadelphia Inquirer, said the special section was removed from the e-edition after the discovery was made. 'Using artificial intelligence to produce content, as was apparently the case with some of the Heat Index material, is a violation of our own internal policies and a serious breach,' she said in a statement to The Washington Post. Much of the content for the section was written by Marco Buscaglia, a Chicago-based freelance writer who used AI chatbots during the writing process, he told The Post in an interview Tuesday. Buscaglia said there was 'no excuse' for not double-checking his work. — WASHINGTON POST Advertisement
CBS News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Judge scraps federal rules requiring employers to give workers time off for abortions
A federal judge on Wednesday struck down regulations requiring most U.S. employers to provide workers with time off and other accommodations for abortions. The ruling by U.S. District Judge David Joseph of the Western District of Louisiana was a victory for conservative lawmakers and religious groups who decried the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's decision to include abortion among pregnancy-related conditions in regulations on how to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which passed in December 2022. The EEOC's decision swiftly prompted several lawsuits and eroded what had been strong bipartisan support for the law designed to strengthen the rights of pregnant workers. Joseph, who was appointed by President Trump during his first term, ruled that the EEOC exceeded its authority by including abortion in its regulations. His ruling came in two consolidated lawsuits brought by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Mississippi, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic University and two Catholic dioceses. Joseph sided with the plaintiffs' argument that if Congress had intended for abortion to be covered by the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, "It would have spoken clearly when enacting the statute, particularly given the enormous social, religious, and political importance of the abortion issue in our nation at this time." Mississippi and Louisiana have near-total bans on abortion, except to save the life of the pregnant person or in cases of a rape that has been reported to law enforcement in Mississippi, and when there is a substantial risk of death or impairment to the patient in continuing the pregnancy and in cases where the fetus has a fatal abnormality in Louisiana. Bipartisan support for pregnant workers law The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act passed with widespread bipartisan support after a decade-long campaign by women's right advocates, who hailed it as a win for low-wage pregnant workers who have routinely been denied accommodations for everything from time off for medical appointments to the ability to sit or stand on the job. The federal law applies to employers with 15 or more employees. While the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 prohibits employers from firing pregnant workers, the law did little to guarantee that women would receive accommodations they might need at work. As a result, many women were forced to keep working under unsafe conditions, or were forced to take unpaid leave by employers who refused to accommodate their needs. But many Republican lawmakers, including Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who co-sponsored the bill, were furious when the EEOC stated that the law covered abortions. The EEOC's commissioners approved the rules in a 3-2 vote along party lines, with both Republican commissioners voting against it. Joseph vacated the provision of the EEOC regulations that included abortion as a "related medical condition" of pregnancy and childbirth. However, the rest of the regulations still stand. "Victory! A federal court has granted Louisiana's request to strike down an EEOC rule requiring employers to accommodate employees' purely elective abortions. This is a win for Louisiana and for life!" Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. A Better Balance, the advocacy group that spearheaded a decade-long campaign for passage of the law, condemned the ruling. "This court's decision to deny workers reasonable accommodations for abortion-related needs is part of a broader attack on women's rights and reproductive freedom," A Better Balance President Inimai Chettiar said in a statement. EEOC adrift Wednesday's ruling comes as the Trump administration has moved to impose tumultuous changes at the EEOC that will almost certainly lead the agency to eventually rewrite the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations. President Trump fired two of the EEOC's democratic commissioners before their terms ended, paving the way for him to establish a Republican majority and make major policy changes on how to interpret and enforce the nation's workplace civil rights laws. For now, Mr. Trump's move left EEOC without the quorum needed to make key decisions, including rescinding or revising regulations. The president tapped an assistant U.S. attorney in Florida, Brittany Panuccio, to fill one of the vacancies. If she confirmed by the Senate, the EEOC will regain its quorum. Acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, who voted against the regulations because of the abortion provision, has said she will work to change them. Similar lawsuits challenging the abortion provision are underway, including one filed by 17 states, led by Tennessee and Arkansas. In February, an appeals court ruled that lawsuit could proceed, overturning a lower court's decision to dismiss the complaint. Under former President Joe Biden, the Justice Department had defended the EEOC against those lawsuits but it is unclear whether it will continue to do so under the Trump administration. The Justice Department did not reply to request for comment on Wednesday's ruling. Chettiar said the Trump administration is unlikely to appeal the ruling, adding to its significance. "The impact of this is huge," Chettiar said in an interview with The Associated Press, calling the decision "symbolic and a big signal of where the right is when it comes to the rights of women." However, the Trump administration has continued defend the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act itself in a lawsuit brought by the state of Texas that seeks to overturn the law in its entirety.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge vacates federal rules requiring employers to provide accommodations for abortions
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday struck down regulations requiring most U.S. employers to provide workers with time off and other accommodations for abortions. The ruling by U.S. District Judge David Joseph of the Western District of Louisiana was a victory for conservative lawmakers and religious groups who decried the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's decision to include abortion among pregnancy-related conditions in regulations on how to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which passed in December 2022. The EEOC's decision swiftly prompted several lawsuits and eroded what had been strong bipartisan support for the law designed to strengthen the rights of pregnant workers. Joseph, who was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, ruled that the EEOC exceeded its authority by including abortion in its regulations. His ruling came in two consolidated lawsuits brought by the attorneys general of Louisiana and Mississippi, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic University and two Catholic dioceses. Joseph sided with the plaintiffs' argument that if Congress had intended for abortion to be covered by the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, 'it would have spoken clearly when enacting the statute, particularly given the enormous social, religious, and political importance of the abortion issue in our nation at this time.' Mississippi and Louisiana have near-total bans on abortion, except to save the life of the pregnant person or in cases of a rape that has been reported to law enforcement in Mississippi, and when there is a substantial risk of death or impairment to the patient in continuing the pregnancy and in cases where the fetus has a fatal abnormality in Louisiana. The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act passed with widespread bipartisan support after a decade-long campaign by women's right advocates, who hailed it as a win for low-wage pregnant workers who have routinely been denied accommodations for everything from time off for medical appointments to the ability to sit or stand on the job. The federal law applies to employers with 15 or more employees. While the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 prohibits employers from firing pregnant workers, the law did little to guarantee that women would receive accommodations they might need at work. As a result, many women were forced to keep working under unsafe conditions, or were forced to take unpaid leave by employers who refused to accommodate their needs. But many Republican lawmakers, including Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who co-sponsored the bill, were furious when the EEOC stated that the law covered abortions. The EEOC's commissioners approved the rules in a 3-2 vote along party lines, with both Republican commissioners voting against it. Joseph vacated the provision of the EEOC regulations that included abortion as a 'related medical condition' of pregnancy and childbirth. However, the rest of the regulations still stand. 'Victory! A federal court has granted Louisiana's request to strike down an EEOC rule requiring employers to accommodate employees' purely elective abortions. This is a win for Louisiana and for life!' Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. A Better Balance, the advocacy group that spearheaded a decade-long campaign for passage of the law, condemned the ruling. 'This court's decision to deny workers reasonable accommodations for abortion-related needs is part of a broader attack on women's rights and reproductive freedom,' A Better Balance President Inimai Chettiar said in a statement. Wednesday's ruling comes as the Trump administration has moved to impose tumultuous changes at the EEOC that will almost certainly lead the agency to eventually rewrite the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations. Trump fired two of the EEOC's democratic commissioners before their terms ended, paving the way for him to establish a Republican majority and make major policy changes on how to interpret and enforce the nation's workplace civil rights laws. For now, Trump's move left EEOC without the quorum needed to make key decisions, including rescinding or revising regulations. Trump tapped an assistant U.S. attorney in Florida, Brittany Panuccio, to fill one of the vacancies. If she confirmed by the Senate, the EEOC will regain its quorum. Acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, who voted against the regulations because of the abortion provision, has said she will work to change them. Similar lawsuits challenging the abortion provision are underway, including one filed by 17 states, led by Tennessee and Arkansas. In February, an appeals court ruled that lawsuit could proceed, overturning a lower court's decision to dismiss the complaint. Under former President Joe Biden, the Justice Department had defended the EEOC against those lawsuits but it is unclear whether it will continue to do so under the Trump administration. The Justice Department did not reply to request for comment on Wednesday's ruling. Chettiar said the Trump administration is unlikely to appeal the ruling, adding to its significance. "The impact of this is huge,' Chettiar said in an interview with The Associated Press, calling the decision 'symbolic and a big signal of where the right is when it comes to the rights of women.' However, the Trump administration has continued defend the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act itself in a lawsuit brought by the state of Texas that seeks to overturn the law in its entirety. _______ The Associated Press' women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
