Instead, the Court held that a pregnant worker can establish an initial pregnancy discrimination claim by (1) offering proof that she is a member of the “protected class,” defined as those who can become pregnant; (2) that she sought an accommodation due to her membership in this class when she was unable to perform her normal job duties; (3) that her employer refused to accommodate her; and (4) that the employer provided a similar accommodation to other employees who are similarly unable to perform their jobs.
Once the employee meets that threshold, the employer may then show that its workplace policy was not biased against pregnant employees but was instead guided by a non-discriminatory business decision. The employee then has the opportunity to show, if she can, that the employer’s proffered business reason is, in fact, pretext for discrimination, or that the workplace policy places a “significant burden” on female employees and the policy is not “sufficiently strong” to justify the burden.
Having set forth a new framework for deciding the case, the Court then sent Young’s case back to the lower courts for application of the new rules.