[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 4]
[Revised as of July 1, 2006]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1604.10]

[Page 197-198]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
          CHAPTER XIV--EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
 
PART 1604_GUIDELINES ON DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF SEX--Table of Contents
 
Sec.  1604.10  Employment policies relating to pregnancy and childbirth.

    (a) A written or unwritten employment policy or practice which 
excludes from employment applicants or employees because of pregnancy, 
childbirth or related medical conditions is in prima facie violation of 
title VII.
    (b) Disabilities caused or contributed to by pregnancy, childbirth, 
or related medical conditions, for all job-related purposes, shall be 
treated the same as disabilities caused or contributed to by other 
medical conditions, under any health or disability insurance or sick 
leave plan available in connection with employment. Written or unwritten 
employment policies and practices involving matters such as the 
commencement and duration of leave, the availability of extensions, the 
accrual of seniority and other benefits and privileges, reinstatement, 
and payment under any health or disability insurance or sick leave plan, 
formal or informal, shall be applied to disability due to pregnancy, 
childbirth or related medical conditions on the same terms and 
conditions as they are applied to other disabilities. Health insurance 
benefits for abortion, except where the life of the mother would be 
endangered if the fetus were carried to term or where medical 
complications have arisen from an abortion, are not required to be paid 
by an employer; nothing herein, however, precludes an employer

[[Page 198]]

from providing abortion benefits or otherwise affects bargaining 
agreements in regard to abortion.
    (c) Where the termination of an employee who is temporarily disabled 
is caused by an employment policy under which insufficient or no leave 
is available, such a termination violates the Act if it has a disparate 
impact on employees of one sex and is not justified by business 
necessity.
    (d)(1) Any fringe benefit program, or fund, or insurance program 
which is in effect on October 31, 1978, which does not treat women 
affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions the 
same as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or 
inability to work, must be in compliance with the provisions of Sec.  
1604.10(b) by April 29, 1979. In order to come into compliance with the 
provisions of 1604.10(b), there can be no reduction of benefits or 
compensation which were in effect on October 31, 1978, before October 
31, 1979 or the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement in 
effect on October 31, 1978, whichever is later.
    (2) Any fringe benefit program implemented after October 31, 1978, 
must comply with the provisions of Sec.  1604.10(b) upon implementation.

[44 FR 23805, Apr. 20, 1979]