HSB 608 (LSB 6010YC (1) 88)

HOUSE FILE _____ 

BY  (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT BILL BY CHAIRPERSON KAUFMANN)

A BILL FOR

An Act requiring employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees based on pregnancy or childbirth and making penalties applicable.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 216.6, subsection 2, Code 2020, is amended by adding the following new paragraph:
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  f.  (1)  An employer shall provide reasonable accommodations to an employee based on medical conditions related to the employee’s pregnancy or childbirth if the employee so requests with the advice of the employee’s health care provider.
   (2)  For purposes of this lettered paragraph “f”, “reasonable accommodations” means actions which would permit an employee with a medical condition relating to the employee’s pregnancy or childbirth to perform in a reasonable manner the activities involved in the employee’s specific occupation and include but are not limited to the provision of an accessible worksite, acquisition or modification of equipment, job restructuring, and a modified work schedule. “Reasonable accommodations” does not mean any action that would impose an undue hardship on the business of the employer from whom the action is requested.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodations to an employee based on medical conditions related to the employee’s pregnancy or childbirth if the employee requests reasonable accommodations with the advice of the employee’s health care provider. Penalty provisions for discriminatory employment practices are made applicable to a failure to provide such reasonable accommodations to an employee.
   The bill defines “reasonable accommodations” as actions which would permit an employee with a medical condition relating to the employee’s pregnancy or childbirth to perform in a reasonable manner the activities involved in the employee’s specific occupation and include but are not limited to the provision of an accessible worksite, acquisition or modification of equipment, job restructuring, and a modified work schedule. The bill provides that “reasonable accommodations” does not mean any action that would impose an undue hardship on the business of the employer from whom the action is requested.