Opinion ID: 391158
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Federal and State laws relating to discrimination

Text: 4 Section 703(a)(1) of Title VII, enacted in 1964 as part of the Civil Rights Act, makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee because of ... sex. 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1). As originally enacted, Title VII did not specify whether or not denial of employee benefits related to pregnancy was intended to constitute discrimination because of sex. In 1976, the Supreme Court held that an employer's exclusion of pregnancy-related benefits from coverage under disability benefit plans did not constitute discrimination because of ... sex within the meaning of § 703(a)(1). General Electric Co. v. Gilbert, 429 U.S. 125, 97 S.Ct. 401, 50 L.Ed.2d 343 (1976). 4 5 Like Title VII, New York's HRL prohibits discrimination in employment because of ... sex. Unlike the United States Supreme Court, however, the New York Court of Appeals interpreted this language in its own statute to require private employers maintaining disability benefits plans to provide benefits for pregnancy on the same basis as for other covered disabilities. Brooklyn Union Gas Co. v. New York State Human Rights Appeal Board, 41 N.Y.2d 84, 390 N.Y.S.2d 884, 359 N.E.2d 393 (1976). 5 Soon afterward, New York amended the DBL to require employers to provide coverage for at least eight weeks of pregnancy-related disability. 6 6 As of April 29, 1979, Title VII was amended to provide that the term because of sex would include the meaning because of or on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Pub.L. 95-555, 92 Stat. 2076 (1978). The amendment further provided that women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes, including receipt of benefits under fringe benefit programs, as other persons not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work .... 42 U.S.C. § 2000e(k) (Supp. II 1978). Thus, after April 29, 1979, the HRL was no longer broader than Title VII. 7