Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Supreme Court To Consider Case About Job Protections For Pregnant Women
The New York Times: Case Seeking Job Protections For Pregnant Women Heads To Supreme Court
She sued under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and the Supreme Court will hear her case on Wednesday. Women’s rights groups hope that Ms. Young’s case will snap their recent losing streak at the court, which has included decisions on equal pay, medical leave, abortion and contraception. (Liptak, 11/30)
The Washington Post: Former UPS Driver At Center Of Pregnancy Discrimination Case Before Supreme Court
A private woman, Peggy Young didn’t want all the world to know her most intimate business, including her two failed attempts at conceiving a child with her former husband before her pregancy in 2006 cost her her job delivering letters at United Parcel Service in Landover, Md. All Peggy Young wanted, she says, was to drive. But when her bosses at UPS told her to take unpaid leave until she was no longer pregnant, Young sued, saying the company violated the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 and failed to treat a pregnant Young the way it treated other employees. She lost twice in courts in Maryland, which agreed with UPS that Young did not prove the company discriminated against her because of her pregnancy. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in her appeal of the closely watched case. (Schulte, 11/30)
USA Today: Pregnant Worker's Case To Test Justices' 'Blind Spot'
Several cases involving gender discrimination and reproductive rights have hit a 5-4 roadblock at the conservative-leaning court under Chief Justice John Roberts. Now groups representing women, workers, employers and others are watching to see how the justices handle the company's refusal to reassign Young to light duty during her pregnancy. After last June's ruling that Hobby Lobby and other employers with religious objections could deny their employees health insurance coverage for contraceptives, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg went so far as to suggest her male colleagues had a "blind spot" on the issue. (Wolf, 11/30)
