Join the Better Life Lab and A Better Balance virtually at 2pm ET on June 29 for an event marking the passage and implementation of the federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and lessons that could apply to future policy campaigns.

On June 27, 2023, the PWFA will go into effect, ensuring that covered pregnant and postpartum workers are entitled to receive the reasonable accommodations they need in order to continue working and supporting themselves and their families. The new law is the culmination of a hard-won 10-year campaign that arose from the lived experience of pregnant workers and new moms sharing their stories of facing bias, discrimination and often job loss and family hardship when employers denied requests for accommodations like appropriately fitting uniforms, temporary light duty assignments, additional bathroom or water breaks or flexible schedules.

The fight for the PWFA spanned both the state and federal levels and also brought together broad, diverse and often bipartisan coalitions: 30 states, Washington DC, and four localities passed their own laws protecting pregnant workers prior to the federal law, and nearly all of these state laws passed with strong bipartisan support.

At a time when the United States remains an outlier among peer competitive economies for failing to invest in the policies that help families flourish, like paid family and medical leave, schedule control and universal care infrastructure, join us as we explore how the power of story and broad coalitions were key to passing the federal PWFA and what we can learn from this success to move family-sustaining public policy forward.

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