The NJ Office of Attorney General and Division on Civil Rights issued guidance to clarify the workplace accommodations the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) affords to employees for pregnancy, lactation, and related medical conditions.
New Jersey’s Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (P.L. 2013, c. 220) expanded the LAD’s protections for employees who are pregnant or have pregnancy-or childbirth-related medical conditions, including by requiring reasonable accommodations in the workplace. In 2018, “breastfeeding” was added as a protected characteristic under the LAD and required employers to grant reasonable accommodations for employees who are lactating or have lactation-related medical conditions.
The guidance addresses providing reasonable accommodations, prohibitions on penalties, equal treatment, remedies and relief for violations to LAD, and federal laws and regulations for accommodations in the workplace for pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation.
We suggest you review the guidance with your labor attorney and municipal manager.
Contact: Lori Buckelew, Deputy Executive Director & Director of Government Affairs, lbuckelew@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x112.