People Protection Not “Fetal Protection”

Christman v. American Cyanamid Co. , Second Amended Complaint (N.D.W. Va. Civ. Ac. No. 80-0024(P).

Many people were instrumental in creating this important coalition. In particular, Odessa Komer, Tony Mazzocchi, and Nancy Stearns assumed leadership roles at the early formative stages of the coalition.

Some employers reportedly also were engaged in forms of genetic screening directed at minority workers. See Severo R. , “Genetic Tests by Industry Raise Questions on Rights of Workers,” New York Times, Feb. 3, 1980. The Congressional Office of Technology Assessment documented the prevalence of genetic screening practices in a report, “The Role of Genetic Screening in the Prevention of Occupational Disease” (1983).

45 Fed. Reg. 7514 (1980).

46 Fed. Reg. 3916 (1981).

Zuniga v. Kleberg Co. Hosp. , 692 F.2d 986 (5th Cir. 1982), Wright v. Olin Corp., 697 F. 2d 1172 (4th Cir. 1982), Haves v. Shelby Mem. Hosp., 726 F.2d 1543 (11th Cir. 1984), Grant v. General Motors Corp., 908 F. 2d 1303 (6th Cir. 1990). Doerr v. B.F. Goodrich Co., 484 F. Supp. 320 (N.D. Ohio, 1979) was dismissed on procedural grounds. Johnson Controls v. California Fair Employment and Housing Commission. 218 Cal. App. 3d 517 (1990) applied California law to the issue.

See “A Report on the EEOC, Title VII, and Workplace Fetal Protection Policies in the 1980s,” Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives, 101st Cong. 2d Sess. (Comm. Print 1990), pp. 12–27.

Occupational Safety and Health Admin. , Final Standard for Occupational Exposure to Lead, 29 C.F.R. §1910.1025 (1989). The Preamble to the Standard appears at 43 Fed. Reg. 52952 (1978).

In this case, the law requires that “women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same ? as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work ?” 42 U.S.C. §2000e(k).

See Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. v. EEOC , 462 U.S. 669 (1983) (extending medical benefits to the pregnant spouses of male employees, since female employees' spouses were fully covered) and California Federal Savings and Loan Ass'n v. Guerra, 479 U.S. 272 (1987) (upholding state mandated benefits for pregnant workers, recognizing that employers could satisfy Title VII, which requires that pregnant women be treated “the same” as other workers similar in their ability to work, by providing the same benefits to other workers).

See, e.g., Green v. Edmands Co. , 639 F.2d 286 (5th Cir. 1981); Presser and Keeton on Torts, 5th Ed., §68 (1984).

“Comment, Employees' Assumption of Risk: Real or Illusory Choice?” 52 Tenn. L. Rev. 35 (1984).

Tiller v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad , 318 U.S. 54, 69 (1943) (Frankfurter, J., concurring).

Hunt V. , Work and the Health of Women, pp. 23–24 (1979) (reporting that occupational exposure per conception is at least twice as great for males as for females).

For example, in Whitehead v. St. Joe Lead Co. , 729 F. 2d 238 (3d Cir. 1984) (reversing grant of summary judgment for defendant to permit trial on liability) a worker sued the manufacturer of lead in a products liability action, asserting that the manufacturer had a duty to warn the employees of an industrial user of the hazards of lead exposure.