Justices weigh bias claim of pregnant UPS driver

Peggy Young, a Virginia woman who lost her UPS job because she became pregnant, carries a bouquet of flowers as she leaves the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. The Supreme Court is weighing how much employers must do to accommodate pregnant workers under a federal law aimed at combating discrimination against them. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Peggy Young, a Virginia woman who lost her UPS job because she became pregnant, carries a bouquet of flowers as she leaves the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014. The Supreme Court is weighing how much employers must do to accommodate pregnant workers under a federal law aimed at combating discrimination against them. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

By Associated Press December 3, 2014 5 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – Two of the three women on the Supreme Court vigorously questioned a UPS lawyer Wednesday over the company’s refusal to give lighter duty to a pregnant worker, a closely watched case with potentially broad impact for female workers and their employers.

Questions from several justices during arguments suggested the court could be searching for a middle ground in the dispute between United Parcel Service and former driver Peggy Young.

UPS declined to give the woman temporary light-duty work so she could avoid lifting heavy packages after she became pregnant in 2006.

Young was in the courtroom Wednesday to hear the justices talk about employers’ responsibilities under the 36-year-old Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

With some of their male colleagues unusually quiet, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan repeatedly pressed UPS lawyer Caitlin Halligan over the Atlanta-based package delivery company’s refusal to find a temporary assignment for Young.