In a decision likely to increase the pressure on President Barack Obama to appoint a woman to the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices ruled on Monday that employers may give less credit for long-ago pregnancy leave than for other medical leave in calculating pension benefits.
The 7-2 decision in AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen focuses on the way in which employers calculated the effect of pregnancy leave on pension accruals before the 1978 passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. That law required employers to start treating pregnancy leave the same as temporary disability, but it was not retroactive. AT&T responded to the law at the time by equalizing treatment of the two kinds of leave going forward. In the case before the court, four employees argued that the lesser credit given for earlier pregnancy leave amounted to actionable sex and pregnancy discrimination.
