IDAHO BENEFITS SURVEY - IMPLIED COMPLIANCE WITH THE PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION ACT

Pregnancy has been used as an excuse by employers to disqualify pregna ncy as a ''compensable disability'' and/or dismiss female employees. F ollowing the 1976 Supreme Court decision in General Electric Co. vs. G ilbert, the Congress of the United States amended Title VII of the Civ il Rights Act with the Pregnancy Discrimination Amendment of 1978. Thi s article examines the implementation of this federal legislation in a sparsely populated, northwestern state. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA), intended to protect women workers, excluded employe rs with fewer than 15 workers.1 Based on the employer exemptions, the PDA, would have excluded about 80 percent of Idaho employers. However, the PDA as executed under Idaho's law banning sex discrimination, man dates that employers with five (5) or more employees comply with the i ntent of the PDA. In essence, more than half of all Idaho employers ar e required to treat pregnancy, child birth and related medical conditi ons equally with other nonoccupational medical conditions that may aff ect continuing employment. The survey data suggest that many Idaho emp loyers do partially comply by providing some of the fundamental benefi ts. In fact, a surprising number of very small employers, not bound by state or federal law, were found to offer some of the fundamental ben efits.