Court Opinion

ID: 9430762
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:30:31.446781+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:26.017412
License: Public Domain

Justice Stevens,
concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA) does not exist in a vacuum. As Justice White recognizes in his dissent, Congress did not intend to “put pregnancy in a class by itself within Title VII,” and the enactment of the PDA “did not mark a departure from Title VII principles.” Post, at 298-299. But this realization does not lead me to support Justice White’s position; rather, I believe that the PDA’s posture as part of Title VII compels rejection of his argument that the PDA mandates complete neutrality and forbids all beneficial treatment of pregnancy.1
*293In Steelworkers v. Weber, 443 U. S. 193 (1979), the Court rejected the argument that Title VII prohibits all preferential treatment of the disadvantaged classes that the statute was enacted to protect. The plain words of Title VII, which would have led to a contrary result, were read in the context of the statute’s enactment and its purposes.2 In this case as well, the language of the Act seems to mandate treating preg*294nant employees the same as other employees. I cannot, however, ignore the fact that the PDA is a definitional section of Title VIPs prohibition against gender-based discrimination. Had Weber interpreted Title VII as requiring neutrality, I would agree with Justice White that the PDA should be interpreted that way as well. But since the Court in Weber interpreted Title VII to draw a distinction between discrimination against members of the protected class and special preference in favor of members of that class, I do not accept the proposition that the PDA requires absolute neutrality.
I therefore conclude that Justice Marshall’s view, which holds that the PDA allows some preferential treatment of pregnancy, is more consistent with our interpretation of Title VII than Justice White’s view is. This is not to say, however, that all preferential treatment of pregnancy is automatically beyond the scope of the PDA.3 Rather, as with other parts of Title VII, preferential treatment of the disadvantaged class is only permissible so long as it is consistent with “accomplish[ing] the goal that Congress designed Title VII to'achieve.” Weber, supra, at 204.4 That goal has been *295characterized as seeking “to achieve equality of employment opportunities and to remove barriers that have operated in the past to favor an identifiable group of. . . employees over other employees.” Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U. S. 424, 429-430 (1971).
It is clear to me, as it is to the Court,5 and was to the Court of Appeals,6 that the California statute meets this test. Thus, I agree that a California employer would not violate the PDA were it to comply with California’s statute without affording the same protection to men suffering somewhat similar disabilities.

 Because I agree with the Court that the California statute does not conflict with the purposes of the PDA, and does not purport to “require or permit” action inconsistent with the PDA, I do not reach the question *293whether § 1104 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U. S. C. §2000h-4, is applicable to Title VII, or whether, as Justice Scalia suggests, § 708, 42 U. S. C. § 2000e-7, is the only provision governing Title VIPs pre-emptive scope. Even if § 1104 applies, the California statute would not be preempted in this case. Since Part III-A of Justice Marshall’s opinion does not make clear whether it decides this issue, or whether it only assumes for the purposes of the decision that § 1104 applies, I do not join that section. I do, however, join the remainder of the Court’s opinion.
The choice between disposing of the case through interpreting the preemption provisions of Title VII and Title XI as Justice Scalia does, or through interpreting the substance of the PDA and thus obviating the need to decide the Title XI question, is a choice between two grounds of statutory construction. Neither approach is inherently narrower than the other. Given the value of having an opinion for the Court, I have therefore concluded that I should choose between the conflicting views of the PDA expressed by Justice MARSHALL and Justice White, even though Justice Scalia may be correct in arguing that this case could be decided without reaching that issue.

 There is a striking similarity between the evidence about the enactment of Title VII that was available in Steelworkers v. Weber and the evidence available regarding the enactment of the PDA. First, the plain language in both cases points to neutrality, see ante, at 284; 443 U. S., at 201, although, if anything, that language was even less equivocal in Weber than it is here. See ante, at 285. Second, in both cases the records are replete with indications that Congress’ goal was to bar discrimination against the disadvantaged class or classes at issue. See ante, at 285-286; 443 U. S., at 201-204. Third, in neither case was there persuasive evidence that Congress considered the ramifications of a rule mandating complete neutrality. See ante, at 286; 443 U. S., at 204. Finally, there were statements in the legislative histories of both provisions stressing that Congress did not intend to require preferential treatment, statements that undermine the conclusion that Congress indeed intended to -prohibit such treatment. See ante, at 286; 443 U. S., at 204-206.

 I do not read the Court's opinion as holding that Title VII presents no limitations whatsoever on beneficial treatment of pregnancy. Although the opinion does make some mention of the “floor” but “not a ceiling” language employed by the Court of Appeals, see ante, at 285, the Court also points out that there are limitations on what an employer can do, even when affording “preferential” treatment to pregnancy. See ante, at 285, n. 17, 290. Indeed, the Court of Appeals also subjected California’s statute to the test of “whether the policy furthers ‘Title VII’s prophylactic purpose of achieving “equality of employment opportunities.’”” 758 F. 2d 390, 396 (1985) (quoting EEOC v. Puget Sound Log Scaling & Grading Bureau, 752 F. 2d 1389, 1392 (CA9 1985) (in turn quoting Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U. S. 424, 429 (1971))).

 The Court has not yet had occasion to explore the exact line of demarcation between permissible and impermissible preferential treatment under Title VII. The factors discussed in Weber are, in my view, merely exemplary, and do not necessarily define the outer limits of what a private employer or a State may do to in an attempt to effectuate the goals of Title VII.

 See ante, at 289.

 758 F. 2d, at 396.