I am employed by a large chemical company with about 300 people at the site where I work. My job involves both lab work and desk work, with my desk located inside the lab. There are several empty cubicles in the office areas of the building. When I discovered I was pregnant, I requested the use of one of these cubicles to perform my deskwork with no modification of my job duties. I was told by HR that my dr would have to specify that it was necessary by giving a limit to how long I could be in the lab each day. The dr then specified a limit of five hours/ day of lab exposure, "possibly by having an office/cubicle outside the lab." Upon receiving this, HR cut my total hours from eight to five/day with FMLA for the remaining three hours. HR stated that they are "not required to make any accomodations." However, in the past they have given various light duty and alternative assignments to others for various dr restrictions. Also, there is currently another pregnant woman with similar job duties who, without involving HR, has modified her hours and has others doing her lab work. Is it legal for the company to restrict my hours when they make allowances for others? If so, what happens when the twelve weeks runs out? I am currently only two months pregnant and will use most of the twelve weeks even before the baby is due. Will the reduction in hours affect the STD amount when the baby is born?

In the large majority of cases, pregnancy is not considered a disability under the ADA and they are not required to provide you with any accomodation. The fact that they have given light duty or alternate assignments to others does not necessarily obligate them to do so for you*; they may not have any more light duty or alternate assignments available and they do not have to make one up for you.

That being the case, they can legally apply FMLA to the hours you are medically unable to work at your regular assignment. This WILL affect the amount of protected time you have available to you at the time of the birth. It should not affect your disability benefits.

* This assumes that you are not being singled out because of your pregnancy. If there are others who have been given light duty/alternate assignments who are pregnant, you are out of luck; likewise if others who are not pregnant have been denied light duty/alternate assignments. But if ONLY women who are pregnant and ALL women who are pregnant are denied light duty/alternate assignments, you might have some recourse.