INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Eric Holcomb admitted Wednesday the pregnancy accommodations proposal he’s been wanting for years will not happen in 2021.
At his weekly press conference, Holcomb said the bill to give pregnant women more accommodations in the workplace is “not going to come to fruition” this year.
“Message received from upstairs,” Holcomb said, referring to state lawmakers. “I’m going to support a step in the right direction.”
Holcomb’s “step in the right direction” appears to be a bill that wouldn’t guarantee any actual accommodations for women. Instead, it gives women the ability to request accommodations from their employer, something they can already do. That bill passed a House committee Tuesday, 12-1.
The bill also says the employer must respond to the request in a “reasonable” amount of time but doesn’t define how much time that would be.
If passed, it wouldn’t require an employer to provide an accommodation for a pregnant employee, but the employer couldn’t discipline or fire the employee for the request.
Holcomb also said he will sign an executive order that gives accommodations for about 30,000 state employees.
Indiana’s Democratic lawmakers have been eager to pass meaningful pregnancy accommodations into law but have been stonewalled by the Republican supermajority.
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