SCOTUS, pregnancy & UPS (and future employers looking for the escape hatch)
This is a scary case, all-round.
Why?
There is only one mother on the bench there
The men who are there, have always made enough money, and are from an era where pregnancy/motherhood meant that the "little lady" tended to the kiddies, played hostess, and did volunteer work/church work. A mother's paycheck was not an integral part of the family income.
UPS is the "perfect" company for this case , since its business often involves lifting heavy objects. Women had to really exert themselves to prove that they were equally capable as the men. At first, they were probably not all that welcome (see military academy, uniformed services/firefighters...and basically any job that is not sales, making up rooms, babysitting, nursing, teaching, secretary-ing, etc)
Laws changed in the 70's and employers now could not exclude childbearing-aged women from the workforce (without some fancy disqualifying footwork)..
but
Younger women often DO want children, and pregnancy is the usual route. These days, that job may be the ONLY job that supports a family and provides medical insurance.
Since our archaic, Dickensian workplace does not grant mandatrory PAID maternity leave (based on need, as directed by a doctor), women often do endanger their pregnancy as they continue their usual work load, because most of them know in their hearts that if they ask for "special treatment/light work load", their jobs are in jeopardy.
I have personally seen female grocery checkers slinging around 40lb bags of dogfood, or outside in blistering heat collecting carts.. why?, because they are afraid to ask for lenience...
The company will argue that the JOB requires heavy lifting, and that the woman CHOSE to become pregnant, so they (the company) should be within their rights to place her on unpaid leave....that eliminates their liability if she has a miscarriage or pre-term labor due to a workplace event. They will also argue that they now have to pay someone else to do "her" work while she cannot, and that they do not "need" her for another light duty job.
Whatever they decide, this will be very ugly..
