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Supreme Court rules against retroactive application of pregnancy discrimination law

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court Monday ruled 7-2 in AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen that companies do not violate the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) by failing to award employees credit for maternity leave taken before the act's effective date. The Court found that although the method of calculating benefits used by AT&T would be prohibited on gender discrimination grounds if enacted today, the act does not apply retroactively and therefore overruled a 2007 decision by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which found that the pension plan was discriminatory. The Court also rejected Hulteen's claim that the payment of benefits accrued under the pre-PDA plan marks a new instance of discrimination under the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, finding that, because the initial decision was not itself discriminatory, Hulteen has not been "affected by application of a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice" within the meaning of the statute. Justice David Souter delivered the Court's opinion. Justice John Paul Stevens concurred. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, joined by Justice Stephen Breyer, dissented, finding that AT&T "committed a current violation of Title VII when, post-PDA,it did not totally discontinue reliance upon a pension calculation premised on the notion that pregnancy-based classifications display no gender bias."

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on May 18, 2009 (boomark / email).