Republicans Kill Workplace Protection for Pregnant Women and New Moms
Published 2017-02-10 by
Cory Allen Heidelberger
For further proof that our Republican Legislature gives not one darn about real family values, we turn to Monday’s defeat in committee of House Bill 1120, a measure to protect and accommodate pregnant and breastfeeding workers.
HB 1120, brought to us by Democratic Representative Dan Ahlers and co-sponsored by seven Democrats and four Republicans, would have required firms with 50 or more employees to offer moms and moms-to-be “reasonable accommodations,” such as “more frequent or longer breaks, time off to recover from childbirth, adjustment of seating, temporary transfer to a less strenuous or hazardous position, job restructuring, private nonbathroom space for breastfeeding, assistance with manual labor, modified work schedules, or any other reasonable request directly related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related condition.”
It shouldn’t take a law to get a decent employer to send someone to help a pregnant lady lift that ten-ream box of paper. But anyway….
HB 1120 bent over backwards to keep from putting to much onus on employers. HB 1120 said “reasonable accommodations” could not “unduly disrupt or interfere with the employer’s normal operations; threaten the health or safety of the employee with a disability or others; contradict a business necessity of the employer; or impose undue hardship on the employer, based on the size of the employer’s business, the type of business, the financial resources of the employer, and the estimated cost and extent of the accommodation.”
We can get business done and still help new moms and soon-moms, right?
Wrong, says Republican Representative Wayne Steinhauer of Hartford/Murdo. Instead of troubling their employers with their maternal burdens, those working women should quit:
Women should only work where their breasts and uteri are appreciated, says Rep. Steinhauer.
“It’s not prison. You can quit,” Steinhauer, a business owner, said during a Monday hearing of the House Commerce and Energy Committee on the bill, HB 1120. “You’ve got a choice every day. You make a choice whether you come to work. And I’m here to tell you, if a person’s not allowing you to breastfeed at work or making appropriate accommodations at work, we can pass this law, but you don’t want to work for that guy. Get the heck out of there” [Nicole Knight, “Lawmaker: Pregnant Workers Who Want Accommodations Should Quit,” Rewire, 2017.02.08].
The two women on House Commerce and Energy, Republicans Lana Greenfield and Elizabeth May, were both excused from the hearing. Also excused from the hearing was the Republican recollection of their insistence that they put children first in their lawmaking.
Kick women in the teeth and still pay them less than male counterparts-how very wingnut-like.
Chip
Maybe if we lived in a country that held to it’s traditional family values, we wouldn’t depend on dual incomes to make ends meet. Maybe a woman wouldn’t have to be so concerned about working during her child bearing years and this would be a non issue.
Eve Fisher
Because, of course, jobs just grow on every tree and bush in every SD town, well-paying jobs, and she can always find another one… Grrr….
Chip
*Clarification*
Traditional values. Not so much ‘family’ values. Referring to receiving a living wage on a single income, whether it be that you aren’t getting paid enough, or that expenses are too high.
P.S. it sucks that you can’t correct a post on here….
jerry
Why do women support this abuse?
Jenny
Working families just can’t catch a break to save their lives in the Land of Low Wage. Never mind that a lot them are working two jobs just to stay afloat.
Remember SD business owners and the GOP – your business wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for your employees.
mike from iowa
Eve accidentally hit on a funny cartoon about public education under DeVos. The new three Rs are Grrr.
Loren
But… but… but, didn’t ya’ll see our two smiling senators on the news last nite talking about how wonderful the business climate is in SD? I guess if you are looking for a work force that seems satisfied with low pay, few bennies and will continually vote against their own best interests, SD is the place for YOU!
Charlene Lund
It would be extreme gerrymandering to put Hartford and Murdo in the same legislative district – but having said that – this comment by the legislator to quit the job, is more ample evidence that this years legislature is really trying to get SD to the dark ages and fast!
Laurisa
Chip, maybe some women don’t WANT to stay at home with the children. Maybe they want to use their intelligence, abilities, education and training in the wider world. I’m always amazed at people who thing in rigid gender roles, because that’s not fair to either women or men. No one would even think of restricting all men to just one occupation and one job. They all have different abilities, strengths, desires and aspirations.
Well, it’s the same with women. Not all women are cut out to be full-time wives and mothers, and many children suffered in the past because of the frustration of their mothers who often only had children and stayed home because it was the only thing open to them and the pressure was tremendous. There are plenty of women who prefer working and there are plenty of men who’d like to stay home with the children. Nothing wrong with that at all, there should be no such thing as rigid gender roles.
I do agree that there are cases where women would like to stay home but cannot afford to do so. In those cases, what you’re saying does apply. Just don’t assume that that should be, or is, the case for ALL women.
Laurisa
How dare any of these legislators who voted down this bill ever again call themselves “pro-life”. I just do not want to hear it from them. Hypocritical sexists.
Rep. Tom Pischke
Mr. Heidelberger
I hope you took notice that not only did I sign onto this bill as a co-sponsor, I also voted against the other Republicans to kill the bill.
Sincerely yours,
Skinflint Pischke
mike from iowa
All them high paying jobs for women in South Dakota makes it just too lucrative for a woman to stay at home. Maybe wingnuts need to push more lower paying jobs to keep the little ladies at home where most wingnuts feel they belong. (tic)
No offense intended for any ladies. Seriously
Porter Lansing
Guess what, Republicans. You think these “anti-regulation” decisions are helping business? Things like this are why businesses won’t move to South Dakota. Two words describe this mindset. MEAN SPIRITED
I did notice! Thank you, Rep. Pischke, for your sensible vote. Now keep working on your colleagues on that issue.
Roger Elgersma
In a low wage state women need to work. My grandmother said that the difference between now and one hundred years ago is that women always worked, now days they get paid for it. With ten kids and no electricity, women probably worked harder back then. Any good responsible worker deserves to keep their seniority and keep a job where their experience will be of value to both the worker and the employer. If someone wants women to be less capable just to make themselves feel more important, then just kick them out anytime they get pregnant.
Dr. B
Of course Rep. Steinhauer is in my district. What an A**hole.
It’s the wealthy business men like this guy that keep us little people down. he’s part of the same crowd that says we can keep workers wages low because we have a lot cost of living in the state.
Such absurdity!
Just quit a job? When South Dakota has an extremely low unemployment rate? In the words of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia character Charlie Kelly: Oh, get a job? Just get a job? Why don’t I strap on my job helmet and squeeze down into a job cannon and fire off into job land, where jobs grow on jobbies?!”
Oh, it makes me so angry! He’s getting a letter from me. Grrr…
Dr. B
Please excuse the typos. I get a little worked up when an old white guy says stupid an absurd things.
Roger Cornelius
About South Dakota having a great business climate:
See Dr. Newquest’s Northern Valley Beacon blog on 2-07-2017:
Good Story With Fatal Flaws: jobs lost in Aberdeen.
Jana
Should be a fun question for legislators at the cracker barrels this weekend! Let’s all show up!
Jason Sebern
It is really hard to understand how these people continue to get elected to the state legislature.
Chip
Laurusa, whoever said they couldn’t? I’m simply saying that if we could get back to the point where we could afford to live off of one income there would be a bit more flexibility. That’s all I’m saying. Why do we to immediately get down in the mud? This is why Democrats don’t get anywhere.
South Dakota makes the big time at last. Yer Wonkette has covered this story, not Cory’s version. Caution, Wonkette has been known to use salty, nsfw langwidge. I did not read the whole article before copy/pasting. Be warned.
teele
Being from a different backward-moving state, I am unfamiliar with the term “excused” as it was applied to the two female legislators. Did they get the vapors, so were excused from the room while the big boys voted? Did they not want to be seen as traitors to their gender by voting for this nonsense, so got a special note from the majority leader? Did they need special accommodations because they both happen to be pregnant, so were excused from the backbreaking work of standing up for other women? Can someone enlighten me?
Roger Cornelius
mike from iowa,
Nice shout out to Dakota Free Press on Wonkette.
Thanks for sharing.
Amanda
Any thoughts on why Reps Greenfield and May were excused?
laurensd1
mike from iowa
gotcha!
SDTeacher
I’ve experienced this first hand and have seen friends experience it. Workplace discrimination for pregnant woman/new moms exists in our state. Very sad for women in our state.
How can you not be allowed time to feed your child the way you are told is best. Your only options are to stop breastfeeding or quit your job. I love my job. I have invested my entire career into teaching and making our schools better places for kids – to just give this up is not something I want. I love my children. Of course I want to given them the best start in this world, the best nutrition I can. How does a person choose??? Either way it would break me as a person. I didn’t realize the discrimination of pregnant women and new mothers still existed until I experienced it. I don’t wish it upon anyone. Sad day for South Dakota:(
Chip
As I read through Cory’s explanation of the bill, I can’t help but wonder how both the employer’s and the employee’s promises will be kept. How would you police this? How would this look in a court battle? I’m certainly not on the side of business owners, but I also believe in proposing common sense legislation that doesn’t make you look stupid. Any variation to what is expected of an employee will potentially affect their bottom line, which from what I read is guaranteed not to happen. Not making a statement here. Just stating a fact. So you are basically back to where you started. Employer and employee will have to come to an agreement. The one positive I see here is that it may force an employer to at least have the conversation.
I’m sure this will get me into trouble, but here it goes anyway…. When we talk about breastfeeding at work, what are we referring to?
Adam
I no longer have any reasonable expectations of Pierre. Too many years have gone by where I truly thought a good idea might be able to survive our state legislature – every single one of those years was for absolutely nothing.
It turns out, I can survive bad state policies and a disfunctional legislature, as long as when I look out the window and get into a vehicle I can see these beautiful Black Hills all around me.
It would be neat to see a Black Hills Party happen. One that’s not ideologically centered but geocentric. Not liberal or conservative, but one that focuses on the good of the Black Hills area only. Maybe geocentric political parties could transcend this ideological BS that only seems to get in way of implementing any decent ideas.
Laurisa, I agree that we shouldn’t expect women to accept “home with the kids” as their default role. If both parents want to work, that’s great.
But Steinhauer’s insult assumes that all families have the luxury of choosing whether both parents will work outside the home. I agree with Chip that we should get wages back to the point where all families can choose to have one parent (which one is up to them) stay home to focus on raising the kids instead of being forced by economics to put the kids in daycare and send both parents to work.
Chip, I’m not sure about enforcement, but one correspondent has told me that one reason HB 1120 was rejected was that it duplicates protections in federal law… which would suggest that we must have some way of enforcing those federal protections.
Effective 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act amended Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. § 207) (“FLSA”) to require that employers provide a nursing mother reasonable break time to express breast milk for one year after the birth of her child. The law does not require that this time be compensated. The amendment also requires that employers provide a place, other than a bathroom, for an employee to express breast milk. Note that certain workers who are exempt from Section 7 of the FLSA are not covered by this amendment. Also note that the amendment does not preempt state laws that provide employees with broader protections (for example, compensated break time, break time for exempt employees, or break time beyond one year after the child’s birth). For more about the FLSA’s break time requirement, see http://www.dol.gov/whd/nursingmothers/.
Kick women in the teeth and still pay them less than male counterparts-how very wingnut-like.
Maybe if we lived in a country that held to it’s traditional family values, we wouldn’t depend on dual incomes to make ends meet. Maybe a woman wouldn’t have to be so concerned about working during her child bearing years and this would be a non issue.
Because, of course, jobs just grow on every tree and bush in every SD town, well-paying jobs, and she can always find another one… Grrr….
*Clarification*
Traditional values. Not so much ‘family’ values. Referring to receiving a living wage on a single income, whether it be that you aren’t getting paid enough, or that expenses are too high.
P.S. it sucks that you can’t correct a post on here….
Why do women support this abuse?
Working families just can’t catch a break to save their lives in the Land of Low Wage. Never mind that a lot them are working two jobs just to stay afloat.
Remember SD business owners and the GOP – your business wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for your employees.
Eve accidentally hit on a funny cartoon about public education under DeVos. The new three Rs are Grrr.
But… but… but, didn’t ya’ll see our two smiling senators on the news last nite talking about how wonderful the business climate is in SD? I guess if you are looking for a work force that seems satisfied with low pay, few bennies and will continually vote against their own best interests, SD is the place for YOU!
It would be extreme gerrymandering to put Hartford and Murdo in the same legislative district – but having said that – this comment by the legislator to quit the job, is more ample evidence that this years legislature is really trying to get SD to the dark ages and fast!
Chip, maybe some women don’t WANT to stay at home with the children. Maybe they want to use their intelligence, abilities, education and training in the wider world. I’m always amazed at people who thing in rigid gender roles, because that’s not fair to either women or men. No one would even think of restricting all men to just one occupation and one job. They all have different abilities, strengths, desires and aspirations.
Well, it’s the same with women. Not all women are cut out to be full-time wives and mothers, and many children suffered in the past because of the frustration of their mothers who often only had children and stayed home because it was the only thing open to them and the pressure was tremendous. There are plenty of women who prefer working and there are plenty of men who’d like to stay home with the children. Nothing wrong with that at all, there should be no such thing as rigid gender roles.
I do agree that there are cases where women would like to stay home but cannot afford to do so. In those cases, what you’re saying does apply. Just don’t assume that that should be, or is, the case for ALL women.
How dare any of these legislators who voted down this bill ever again call themselves “pro-life”. I just do not want to hear it from them. Hypocritical sexists.
Mr. Heidelberger
I hope you took notice that not only did I sign onto this bill as a co-sponsor, I also voted against the other Republicans to kill the bill.
Sincerely yours,
Skinflint Pischke
All them high paying jobs for women in South Dakota makes it just too lucrative for a woman to stay at home. Maybe wingnuts need to push more lower paying jobs to keep the little ladies at home where most wingnuts feel they belong. (tic)
No offense intended for any ladies. Seriously
Guess what, Republicans. You think these “anti-regulation” decisions are helping business? Things like this are why businesses won’t move to South Dakota. Two words describe this mindset. MEAN SPIRITED
I did notice! Thank you, Rep. Pischke, for your sensible vote. Now keep working on your colleagues on that issue.
In a low wage state women need to work. My grandmother said that the difference between now and one hundred years ago is that women always worked, now days they get paid for it. With ten kids and no electricity, women probably worked harder back then. Any good responsible worker deserves to keep their seniority and keep a job where their experience will be of value to both the worker and the employer. If someone wants women to be less capable just to make themselves feel more important, then just kick them out anytime they get pregnant.
Of course Rep. Steinhauer is in my district. What an A**hole.
It’s the wealthy business men like this guy that keep us little people down. he’s part of the same crowd that says we can keep workers wages low because we have a lot cost of living in the state.
Such absurdity!
Just quit a job? When South Dakota has an extremely low unemployment rate? In the words of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia character Charlie Kelly: Oh, get a job? Just get a job? Why don’t I strap on my job helmet and squeeze down into a job cannon and fire off into job land, where jobs grow on jobbies?!”
Oh, it makes me so angry! He’s getting a letter from me. Grrr…
Please excuse the typos. I get a little worked up when an old white guy says stupid an absurd things.
About South Dakota having a great business climate:
See Dr. Newquest’s Northern Valley Beacon blog on 2-07-2017:
Good Story With Fatal Flaws: jobs lost in Aberdeen.
Should be a fun question for legislators at the cracker barrels this weekend! Let’s all show up!
It is really hard to understand how these people continue to get elected to the state legislature.
Laurusa, whoever said they couldn’t? I’m simply saying that if we could get back to the point where we could afford to live off of one income there would be a bit more flexibility. That’s all I’m saying. Why do we to immediately get down in the mud? This is why Democrats don’t get anywhere.
Steinhauer go down your hole and come back up later how do these people get elected .
http://wonkette.com/612556/south-dakota-helpfully-informs-ladies-you-can-always-quit-your-job-if-youre-preggers
South Dakota makes the big time at last. Yer Wonkette has covered this story, not Cory’s version. Caution, Wonkette has been known to use salty, nsfw langwidge. I did not read the whole article before copy/pasting. Be warned.
Being from a different backward-moving state, I am unfamiliar with the term “excused” as it was applied to the two female legislators. Did they get the vapors, so were excused from the room while the big boys voted? Did they not want to be seen as traitors to their gender by voting for this nonsense, so got a special note from the majority leader? Did they need special accommodations because they both happen to be pregnant, so were excused from the backbreaking work of standing up for other women? Can someone enlighten me?
mike from iowa,
Nice shout out to Dakota Free Press on Wonkette.
Thanks for sharing.
Any thoughts on why Reps Greenfield and May were excused?
mike from iowa
gotcha!
I’ve experienced this first hand and have seen friends experience it. Workplace discrimination for pregnant woman/new moms exists in our state. Very sad for women in our state.
How can you not be allowed time to feed your child the way you are told is best. Your only options are to stop breastfeeding or quit your job. I love my job. I have invested my entire career into teaching and making our schools better places for kids – to just give this up is not something I want. I love my children. Of course I want to given them the best start in this world, the best nutrition I can. How does a person choose??? Either way it would break me as a person. I didn’t realize the discrimination of pregnant women and new mothers still existed until I experienced it. I don’t wish it upon anyone. Sad day for South Dakota:(
As I read through Cory’s explanation of the bill, I can’t help but wonder how both the employer’s and the employee’s promises will be kept. How would you police this? How would this look in a court battle? I’m certainly not on the side of business owners, but I also believe in proposing common sense legislation that doesn’t make you look stupid. Any variation to what is expected of an employee will potentially affect their bottom line, which from what I read is guaranteed not to happen. Not making a statement here. Just stating a fact. So you are basically back to where you started. Employer and employee will have to come to an agreement. The one positive I see here is that it may force an employer to at least have the conversation.
I’m sure this will get me into trouble, but here it goes anyway…. When we talk about breastfeeding at work, what are we referring to?
I no longer have any reasonable expectations of Pierre. Too many years have gone by where I truly thought a good idea might be able to survive our state legislature – every single one of those years was for absolutely nothing.
It turns out, I can survive bad state policies and a disfunctional legislature, as long as when I look out the window and get into a vehicle I can see these beautiful Black Hills all around me.
It would be neat to see a Black Hills Party happen. One that’s not ideologically centered but geocentric. Not liberal or conservative, but one that focuses on the good of the Black Hills area only. Maybe geocentric political parties could transcend this ideological BS that only seems to get in way of implementing any decent ideas.
(Gerrymandering indeed, Charlene! But Steinhauer owns and operates the Best Western in Murdo.)
Laurisa, I agree that we shouldn’t expect women to accept “home with the kids” as their default role. If both parents want to work, that’s great.
But Steinhauer’s insult assumes that all families have the luxury of choosing whether both parents will work outside the home. I agree with Chip that we should get wages back to the point where all families can choose to have one parent (which one is up to them) stay home to focus on raising the kids instead of being forced by economics to put the kids in daycare and send both parents to work.
Chip, I’m not sure about enforcement, but one correspondent has told me that one reason HB 1120 was rejected was that it duplicates protections in federal law… which would suggest that we must have some way of enforcing those federal protections.
Some of those protections may be in the Affordable Care Act that our Senators and Congresswoman are determined to repeal. From the Women’s Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor: