Pregnant Workers Fairness Act/Funds.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 1206

Short Title: Pregnant Workers Fairness Act/Funds. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Budd, Rubin, and Liu (Primary Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Appropriations, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
May 5, 2026
*H1206-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO ELIMINATE DISCRIMINATION AND PROMOTE WOMEN'S HEALTH AND 2
ECONOMIC SECURITY BY ENACTING THE NORTH CAROLINA PREGNANT 3
WORKERS FAIRNESS ACT AND APPROPRIATE FUN DING FOR 4
IMPLEMENTATION. 5
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 6
SECTION 1. Effective January 1, 2027, Chapter 95 of the General Statutes is 7
amended by adding a new Article to read: 8
"Article 24. 9
"Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. 10
"§95-280. Title. 11
This Article shall be known and may be cited as the "North Carolina Pregnant Workers 12
Fairness Act." 13
"§ 95-281. Definitions 14
The following definitions apply in this Article: 15
(1) Covered entity. – Each of the following: 16
a. A private employer engaged in an industry affecting commerce who 17
employs 15 or more employees. 18
b. The executive, judicial, and legislative branches of State government. 19
c. A unit of local government, including a county, city, or town. 20
(2) Employee. – Any individual employed by a covered entity, including an 21
applicant for employment. 22
(3) Known limitation. – Any physical or mental condition related to, affected by, 23
or arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions that the 24
employee or the employee's representative has communicated to the covered 25
entity, regardless of whether that conditio n meets the definition of disability 26
under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12102. 27
(4) Qualified employee. – An employee or applicant who, with or without 28
reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the 29
employment position. An employee or applicant is also qualified if any 30
inability to perform an essential function is for a temporary period, the 31
essential function could be performed in the near future, and the inability to 32
perform that function can be reasonably accommodated. 33
(5) Reasonable accommodation and undue hardship. – As defined in Section 101 34
of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12111, and 35
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 1206-First Edition
interpreted consistent with that Act and the regulations promulgated 1
thereunder, including the interactive process for identifying and implementing 2
an appropriate accommodation. Rules adopted by the Commissioner under 3
G.S. 95-285 shall be consistent with this definition and shall not be construed 4
to limit rights afforded under this Article. 5
"§ 95-282. Unlawful employment practices. 6
It is an unlawful employment practice for any covered entity to do any of the following: 7
(1) Fail or refuse to make reasonable accommodations to the known limitations 8
of a qualified employee related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical 9
conditions, unless the covered entity demonstrates that the accommodation 10
would impose an undue hardship on the operation of its business. 11
(2) Impose an accommodation upon a qualified employee for a known limitation 12
related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions without first 13
engaging in the interactive process with that employee to identify an effective 14
accommodation. 15
(3) Require a qualified employee to accept a particular accommodation for a 16
known limitation related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical 17
conditions where an alternative accommodation identified through the 18
interactive process would be equally effective and would not impose an undue 19
hardship on the covered entity. 20
(4) Deny employment opportunities to a qualified employee where the denial is 21
based on the need to make reasonable accommodations to that employee 's 22
known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical 23
conditions. 24
(5) Require a qualified employee to take leave, whether paid or unpaid, where 25
another reasonable accommodation can be provided to address that 26
employee's known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related 27
medical conditions. 28
(6) Take any adverse action in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment 29
against a qualified employee on account of that employee's request for or use 30
of a reasonable accommodation for know n limitations related to pregnancy, 31
childbirth, or related medical conditions. 32
"§ 95-283. Retaliation and coercion prohibited. 33
(a) Nondiscrimination. – No covered entity or other person shall discriminate against any 34
employee because that employee has op posed any act or practice made unlawful under this 35
Article, or because that employee made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner 36
in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this Article. 37
(b) No Intimidation. – No covered entity or other person shall coerce, intimidate, 38
threaten, or interfere with any individual in the exercise or enjoyment of any right granted or 39
protected by this Article, or on account of that individual having exercised or enjoyed such a 40
right, or having aided or encouraged any other individual in doing so. 41
(c) Remedies. – The remedies and procedures available under G.S. 95-284 apply to 42
violations of this section. 43
"§ 95-284. Enforcement and remedies. 44
(a) Private right of action. – Any employee aggrieved by a violation of this Article may 45
bring a civil action in the Superior Court of the county where the violation occurred, where the 46
covered entity maintains its principal place of business, or where the employee resides. 47
(b) Exhaustion. – Before filing a civil action under this section, an aggrieved State 48
employee shall first exhaust any applicable State Human Resources Commission , or other 49
grievance procedures, before filing suit. 50
General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
House Bill 1206-First Edition Page 3
(c) Remedies. In any civil action brought under th is Article, the court may award the 1
following: 2
(1) Injunctive relief, including reinstatement and reasonable accommodation. 3
(2) Back pay and lost benefits. 4
(3) Compensatory damages for future pecuniary losses, emotional pain and 5
suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life. 6
(4) Punitive damages, where the covered entity engaged in an unlawful 7
employment practice with malice or with reckless indifference to the rights of 8
the aggrieved employee. 9
(5) Reasonable attorneys' fees and costs to a prevailing plaintiff. 10
(d) Damages limitation. – Compensatory and punitive damages may not be awarded 11
under this section where the unlawful employment practice involves the provision of a reasonable 12
accommodation and the covered entity demonstrates that it made good -faith efforts, in 13
consultation with the affected employee, to identify and provide a reasonable accommodation 14
that would offer an equally effective opportunity and would not cause undue hardship on the 15
operation of the covered entity. 16
(e) State employees. – Nothing in this section shall be construed to waive the State 's 17
sovereign immunity beyond the extent expressly provided herein. An employee of the State or 18
any of its agencies, institutions, or subdivisions may brin g a civil action under this Article in 19
State Superior Court, and the State shall not assert sovereign immunity as a defense to such an 20
action. 21
(f) Statute of limitations. – An aggrieved employee must bring a civil action under this 22
Article within three years after the date the unlawful employment practice occurred. For a State 23
employee required to exhaust State Human Resources Commission grievance procedures under 24
subsection (b) of this section, the three-year period is tolled from the date the employee initiates 25
those grievance procedures until the date a final decision is issued or the procedures are otherwise 26
concluded. 27
"§ 95-285. Rulemaking; policies. 28
(a) Subject to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, the Commissioner of Labor 29
shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 150B of the General Statutes to carry out the 30
purposes of this Article . The rules shall include examples of reasonable accommodations 31
addressing known limitations related to pregnancy, c hildbirth, and related medical conditions, 32
and shall be issued in an accessible format. 33
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section: 34
(1) The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall adopt policies to implement the 35
provisions of this Article for the judicial branch. 36
(2) The Legisla tive Service Officer shall adopt policies to implement the 37
provisions of this Article for the legislative branch. 38
"§ 95-286. Relationship to other laws. 39
Nothing in this Article limits or supersedes any right, remedy, or protection provided under 40
any other provision of State or federal law that affords equal or greater protection to individuals 41
affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. The protections of this Article 42
are cumulative with and in addition to those provided under Article 49A of Chapter 143 of the 43
General Statutes and any applicable federal law. 44
"§ 95-287. Severability. 45
If any provision of this Article or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid 46
or unconstitutional, the remainder of the Article and the application of that provision to other 47
persons or circumstances are unaffected." 48
SECTION 2. Effective July 1, 2026, there is appropriated from the General Fund 49
the sum of six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000) for the 2026-2027 fiscal year to be allocated 50
as follows for implementation of this act: 51
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Page 4 House Bill 1206-First Edition
(1) Two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) to the Department of Labor. 1
(2) Two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) to the Administrative Office of the 2
Courts for the judicial branch, 3
(3) Two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) to the Legislative Services Office 4
for the legislative branch. 5
SECTION 3. Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes 6
law. 7