Most employees can continue working throughout their pregnancies, but many require adjustments to how or when their job is performed to be able to continue working safely. One-quarter million women are denied their work accommodation requests each year, threatening their health and their pregnancies. You can play an important role in ensuring your patients receives the accommodations they need.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that healthcare providers write appropriate work accommodation notes that allow patients to continue working safely during pregnancy. (Committee Opinion 733). Healthcare providers typically are not trained on how to do so effectively, and despite good intentions, may write notes that inadvertently cause their patients to be sent out on leave, lose their health insurance, or even lose their jobs.
ACOG’s Committee Opinion 733 recommends the resources on this site, which were developed by a team of doctors and lawyers, to help you write work notes that increase the likelihood that your patients will receive the pregnancy accommodations they need to continue working and earning an income.
Our state specific tools are currently being updated in light of the NEW Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Please review our updated national note writing guidance here/above. You may also select the state where your patient works (not necessarily the same state where you practice) to access the note-writing tools available for that state:
Check out our comprehensive guide on workplace accommodations you can recommend for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, including lactation, fertility treatment, abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth, and menstruation.
To ask questions or invite an expert to present on pregnancy accommodation work notes at your healthcare institution, contact us at (415) 565-4640.
You may refer your patients to the Center for WorkLife Law’s free legal hotline: [email protected] or (415) 703-8276.
