WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court is weighing how much employers must do to accommodate pregnant workers under a federal law aimed at combating discrimination against pregnant women.<br />
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Questions from several justices during arguments Wednesday suggest the court could be searching for a middle ground between United Parcel Service and former driver Peggy Young.<br />
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UPS refused to give Young temporary light-duty work so that she could avoid lifting heavy packages after she became pregnant in 2006.<br />
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Young was in the courtroom Wednesday to hear the justices talk about employers' responsibilities under the 36-year-old Pregnancy Discrimination Act.<br />
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Young says she should have been offered light-duty work because some UPS workers were.<br />
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The Atlanta-based package delivery company says it will voluntarily offer pregnant women light duty starting in January. But the company contends it complied with the law in Young's case.<br />
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The question at the Supreme Court is whether UPS was required to accommodate Young, 42, because it gave temporary assignments to some workers, including those who were injured on the job or had a condition that was covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act.<br />
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More than 120 Democrats are backing legislation that would change federal law to make explicit the requirement to accommodate pregnant women. Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey said the bill is modeled after the landmark disabilities law. "It would make sure that pregnant workers have the same measure of protection," Casey said, before the start of a rally outside the court Wednesday in support of Young.<br />
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The Obama administration and an unusual array of liberal and conservative interest groups are backing Young, who lives with her 7-year-old daughter, Triniti, in Lorton, Virginia.<br />
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A decision in Young v. UPS, 12-1226, is expected by late June.
