Four women filed a class-action lawsuit against Amazon for violating the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

By Sarah Terzo

 

I’m taking a break from my series on children with trisomy 18 to report the following story.

 

A Pregnancy Discrimination Lawsuit Against Amazon

 

Four women have filed a class action lawsuit against Amazon, accusing the corporation of refusing them accommodations while they were pregnant. The women are suing under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which forbids businesses that employ 15 or more workers from denying reasonable accommodations to pregnant employees.

 

The women are being represented by the nonprofit A Better Balance and the law firm Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel. A Better Balance was the chief organization advocating for the passage of the PWFA.

 

The group drew attention to the widespread problem of pregnant workers, particularly low-wage ones, being pushed out of employment after requesting accommodations such as being able to sit during work, having time off to attend prenatal appointments, and being exempted from tasks involving physical activities that could put them or their babies at risk.

 

Details of the Lawsuit

 

According to the lawsuit:

 

All four [women] asked Amazon for basic pregnancy-related accommodations so they could keep doing their jobs. Amazon denied them basic modifications the law recognizes pregnant workers regularly need, even in uncomplicated pregnancies: Bathroom breaks. An extra 15-minute break. Sitting instead of standing…

 

Amazon applied its unlawful policy of demanding medical paperwork for every pregnancy-related accommodation request, no matter how basic. This is no small ask: In early pregnancy, it can take weeks to schedule a doctor’s visit or obtain a medical note…

 

Then, when Plaintiffs took medically-necessary breaks or absences to get off their feet, visit the doctor, or go to the emergency room, they were punished. Amazon deducted their limited bank of unpaid time off. Soon enough, they had depleted that limited bank of “unpaid time off,” and Amazon threatened to terminate them.

 

Amazon went on to fire all four plaintiffs.

 

Pregnant Employees’ Experiences “Not Unique”

 

According to the lawsuit, the four women’s experiences at Amazon were “not unique.” The lawsuit claims that in 2025 alone, A Better Balance received dozens of calls from other pregnant Amazon employees saying they were being denied accommodations such as breaks, chairs, and time off for doctor’s appointments.

 

Inimai Chettiar, president of A Better Balance, said, “Denying a pregnant worker a stool, a lighter workload, or a bathroom break is a violation of federal law — it’s that simple.”

 

According to Debbie Greenberger, a partner at ECBAWM who is representing the workers:

 

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act became law years ago. Amazon should have well-established policies to comply with federal law. Under its policies, pregnant workers are not protected, and they face retaliation for exercising their rights. Too often, pregnant women working at Amazon warehouses have to risk their health or their pregnancy just to do their jobs.

 

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

 

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and took effect in 2023. During the pro-abortion Biden administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, then under Democratic control, passed regulations requiring the PWFA to apply to abortion, birth control, and in vitro fertilization as well.

 

This led to lawsuits from pro-life states seeking to block these changes. In 2025, a federal judge ruled against the abortion provision, striking it down. So, the PWFA no longer requires employers to accommodate abortion requests.

 

However, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, now running for Senate, filed a lawsuit to strike down the PWFA entirely on the grounds that some members of Congress voted for its passage remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Trump administration is continuing this lawsuit. This may be an attempt to set a precedent for striking down other laws passed during the pandemic.

 

Unfortunately, if the Trump/Texas lawsuit against the PWFA is successful, it will be much harder for pregnant workers to hold corporations accountable for refusing them accommodations, discriminating against them, or firing them.

 

Not the First Lawsuit for Amazon

 

This isn’t the first time Amazon has been accused of failing to comply with federal labor laws regarding accommodations. In November 2025, A Better Balance filed a separate class action suit alleging that Amazon unlawfully penalized disabled warehouse workers who requested accommodations.

 

This appeared at Sarah’s Substack and is reposted with permission. You can read more of her stories here.