As we have previously reported, on October 1, 2013, the Reasonable Accommodations for Disabilities Due to Pregnancy Act took effect for Maryland employers who have 15 or more employees. The new law requires that, unless an employer can show undue hardship, it must provide pregnant employees with various categories of accommodations upon request, including:
- changing the employee’s job duties;
- changing the employee’s work hours;
- relocating the employee’s work area;
- providing mechanical or electrical aids;
- transferring the employee to a less strenuous or hazardous position,
- or providing leave.
Under the new law, employers must post a notice in a conspicuous location (in the same places all other such workplace notices and posters are hung) and revise employee handbooks to include a section explaining a pregnant employee’s right to a reasonable accommodation under the new law. The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights (“MCCR”), which enforces the law, has now issued a sample poster that employees can use to meet this obligation. Although posting the MCCR poster is not mandatory, covered employers must have in place some type of posting that makes employees aware of their rights under the new law.
A copy of the poster is available for download here.