A new protection makes life easier for pregnant employees. The Florida Supreme Court recently handed down a decision stating that, under the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA), employers cannot discriminate against employees or applicants based on their pregnancy status. Although FCRA doesn’t clearly mention pregnancy, the Court reasoned that pregnancy should be included under the legal definition of sex discrimination.

The landmark case in question is Delta v. The Contintental Group, Inc . In this case, an employee filed suit against her employer by arguing that she was the recipient of unfair treatment after she disclosed her pregnancy in the workplace. She said her work was scrutinized tightly and that her employer did not allow her to change shifts even though the company policy allowed shift changes. After returning to work several weeks after having her child, the employee was terminated.

When that case went to trial, the claim was dismissed since the FCRA doesn’t expressly recognize pregnancy discrimination. The Florida Supreme Court later reversed that decision by stating that pregnancy was a foundational characteristic unique to females. For that reason, the Court determined that pregnancy-based discrimination was actually discrimination based on sex status, which is forbidden under the FCRA.

Employers should pay attention to this as employer liability exposure is increased as a result of this decision. There is actually no cap on damages through the FCRA, so those individuals alleging discrimination based on pregnancy may be able to receive big awards. The ruling was handed down in a 6-1 decision and it signals good news for pregnant employees and workers who may become pregnant in the future.

Florida’s Civil Rights Act was established in 1992, barring discrimination on the basis of religion, sex, handicap, race, color, marital status, or national origin. Both lower and appellate courts did agree that the employee in this particular case had been discriminated against, but only in her appeal did the employee receive a judgment that pregnancy status linked her claim to the FCRA.

Pregnancy discrimination is a vital topic in today’s employment atmosphere, especially since it largely depends on whether the applicable civil rights laws include specific protections for employees falling under this category. Congress amended the Civil Rights Act in 1964 to prohibit sex discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, but the statute actually doesn’t cover the entire range of employers. Sadly, that leaves many employees subject to discrimination with little recourse under this federal statute. Many states don’t have specific civil rights laws that address the issue of pregnancy discrimination, which paves the way for employers to argue accordingly in cases where discrimination is alleged. At this time, only a handful of states, now including Florida, have come out to include pregnancy discrimination in their civil rights statutes.

Part of the confusion and argument dates back to an older case, General Electric Co. V. Gilbert. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court held that discrimination based on pregnancy failed to violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause or Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The bottom line from that case was that pregnancy bias and sex discrimination were two separate things, an argument which employers have been able to use to their advantage ever since. Although the ruling in Florida doesn’t entirely clear up the issue, it does raise a lot of questions and move the discussion over pregnancy discrimination forward even farther. The lone dissenter in the Florida Supreme Court case argued that the meaning of the law does not clearly address pregnancy discrimination.

Further change could be on the way in Florida , however. The Florida Senate has already approved a bill that would officially add pregnancy to the FCRA and a House version of that bill is being prepared for a vote, too.

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