House Bill 940 would expand North Carolina’s employment discrimination law to expressly prohibit discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, and pregnancy-related conditions. It rewrites the Equal Employment Practices Act to define pregnancy-related terms, state that workers affected by pregnancy must be treated the same as other employees for employment purposes, and bar adverse actions such as refusal to hire, discharge, or unequal treatment because of pregnancy or related medical conditions. The bill also requires employers to provide leave for pregnancy-related disability and to return employees to the same or a similar job at the same pay after such leave, unless business necessity is shown.
The bill further requires reasonable accommodations for pregnancy-related conditions unless doing so would create an undue hardship. Examples include modified schedules, modified duties, seating or equipment changes, temporary transfers, and break time and space for expressing breast milk. It also allows an aggrieved person to file a civil action within three years and authorizes remedies including back pay, reinstatement, compensatory damages, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees. Additional amendments would align the state’s disability and civil rights provisions so that pregnancy-related temporary disability is covered and state agencies may investigate these charges.
HB940 would materially expand state employment protections by adding explicit pregnancy discrimination and accommodation requirements to North Carolina law. It would amend Chapter 143’s Equal Employment Practices Act, Chapter 168A’s disability-related definitions and accommodation provisions, and Chapter 7A’s administrative enforcement framework, thereby creating clearer statutory rights for pregnant workers and related enforcement authority for state agencies. Employers with 15 or more employees would be directly affected, along with covered governmental entities, and the bill would create a private right of action with specified remedies.
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee debate or votes in the provided materials, the overall sentiment appears supportive and protective of workers’ rights, with the bill framed as an anti-discrimination measure. The sponsors present it as a clarification and expansion of existing equal employment policy to cover pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions. No formal opposition, amendments, or recorded vote history is included in the materials provided.
The main points of potential contention are the scope of employer obligations and the enforcement mechanism. Employers may object to the requirement to provide leave, reinstate workers, and offer reasonable accommodations unless they can prove undue hardship or business necessity. The bill’s definitions of pregnancy-related conditions, the inclusion of lactation and pregnancy termination-related recovery, and the availability of a private civil action with damages and attorneys’ fees could also be debated. Supporters are likely to emphasize workplace fairness and health protections, while critics may focus on compliance costs and litigation exposure.