SCOTUS to decide if pregnant workers can be forced off the job.

[RandySF]

WASHINGTON -- When Peggy Young became pregnant in 2006, she had every intention of continuing to work delivering packages for UPS in Maryland. At the urging of the company's occupational health manager, Young visited her doctor to obtain a note detailing any work restrictions she might need. Her doctor recommended that she not lift more than 20 pounds for the first 20 weeks of her pregnancy.

Based on the doctor's note, UPS placed Young on unpaid leave, an all too common experience for women nationwide. Although UPS often put workers with other conditions on light duty, it told Young that such accommodations wouldn't apply to an "off-the-job" condition such as her pregnancy. Not only would she lose her income, she would have to suddenly switch to her husband's health insurance plan, changing the hospitals at which she could potentially give birth.

"I wanted to work," Young told The Huffington Post. "I all but begged for them to let me work."

The unborn child Young was carrying in 2006 is now a 7-year-old girl named Trinity. Young no longer works for UPS, but she's still fighting the shipping giant for denying her accommodations while she was pregnant. Young sued UPS alleging discrimination, and her case, Young v. UPS, is now before the Supreme Court, with oral arguments expected in December.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/31/pregnancy-discrimination-supreme-court_n_6078416.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

[Initech]

1. Considering corporations have more rights than people now...

I'm not expecting this one to end well.

[C Moon]

2. POS SCOTUS? I wouldn't put any trust in them to do any good for the lower classes.

[Heather MC]

3. Remember ALL life is sacred and the fetus needs to be protected

But who gives a fuck if the pregnant mother has a job or health insurance

[safeinOhio]

6. I'm sure the company will win base on religious freedom.

Anyone can see that big corps worship money.

[LittleGirl]

4. In Switzerland

all Mothers get 14 weeks of paid maternity leave, a law at 80% pay. Lots of strollers around here.

[bluestateguy]

5. Maybe the plantiff could cite Muller v. Oregon to appeal to the conservatives

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muller_v._Oregon

in that case, sexist logic was used to justify a minimum wage and maximum hrs limits for women. Oregon had such policies for women, but not for men.

Read the case summary.

[Jim Lane]

8. That 1908 decision does not reflect the current state of the law.

See, for example, Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190 (1976), in which the Court invalidated an Oklahoma statute that set different minimum ages for purchasing 3.2% beer (females 18 years old, males 21 years old). I'm sure that, if Muller arose today, the sex discrimination in minimum wages and maximum hours would be overturned.

Neither of these cases is directly applicable to the UPS appeal, however. The obvious problem here is that, while a state can have gender-neutral .wage-and-hour laws and gender-neutral alcohol laws, it cannot, in any meaningful sense, have gender-neutral laws about pregnancy.

I think the issue of accommodating pregnant workers has come up before, but I haven't researched it.

[malaise]

7. Every now and then I realize

that cruelty and abuse of workers is part of the core of American capitalism

[AZ Progressive]

9. In civilized nations, there is government subsidized paid maternity leave

Russia: 78 weeks
Germany: 57 weeks
Canada: 50 weeks
Denmark: 50 weeks
France: 42 weeks
UK: 39 weeks
Australia: 18 weeks
China: 13 weeks
Mexico: 12 weeks
India: 12 weeks
Iran: 26 weeks
Saudi Arabia: 10 weeks
Iraq: 9 weeks

source: http://www.buzzfeed.com/laraparker/this-is-what-paid-maternity-leave-looks-like-around-the-worl

[newfie11]

10. Amazing!

What the hell is wrong with this country!!!!

[Takket]

11. Scalia and company

Will not get any farther than "young vs ups" on the complaint before they make up their minds.