April 9, 2025
Samantha Poole, Membership & Business Development Director
When a staff member announces their pregnancy it can be very exciting, but as an employer, that also means ensuring you have the information necessary to support that member of your team as well as ensuring you are compliant with state and federal laws regarding discrimination, leave, and appropriate accommodations.
Pregnancy & Discrimination
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act cover employment discrimination in all aspects of employment. New Hampshire Equal Employment Opportunity also has laws regarding employment discrimination regarding gender and pregnancy. Some of these laws include:
An employer cannot inquire about, nor discriminate against, an employee due to pregnancy during the hiring process.
An employer shall permit an employee to take a leave of absence for the period of temporary physical disability resulting from pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions. When the employee is physically able to return to work, her original job or a comparable position shall be made available to her by the employer unless business necessity makes this impossible or unreasonable.
For all other employment-related purposes, including receipt of benefits under fringe benefit programs, pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions shall be considered temporary disabilities. and a female employee affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated in the same manner as any employee affected by any other temporary disability.
Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
The Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under t he same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. Eligible employees are entitled to twelve work weeks of leave in a 12-month period for a variety of reasons, one of which being for the birth of a child and care for the newborn child within one year of birth. To see more information on eligible employees and situations which qualify for FMLA, click here.
Breaks for Nursing Mothers
Employers are required to provide “reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth each time such employee has a need to express the milk.” Employers are also required to provide “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.”
State-Sponsored Paid Leave
Unlike Massachusetts, New Hampshire does not have a required tax to support a state-funded family leave. This means that an employee cannot apply for aid through the state for paid family leave, which in many cases includes unemployment benefits. Recently, the state has announced a new voluntary program called the NH Paid Family & Medical Leave, which is a state-sponsored program that allows employers or individuals to buy into insurance that would cover their wages for either an 6 to 12 week period of leave due to specific common life events, including childbirth.