Pregnancy Accommodations
The university provides accommodations and ensures Title IX protection against discrimination related to pregnancy, including false pregnancy, termination, childbirth, and recovery.
Who is Entitled to Pregancy Accommodations?
Employees who have limitations associated with pregnancy or related conditions are entitled to reasonable accommodations. Limitations are physical or mental conditions related to, affected by, or arising out of:
- Pregnancy, childbirth, pregnancy loss, postpartum, or lactation;
- Medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, pregnancy loss, postpartum or lactation; or
- Recovery from a pregnancy, childbirth, pregnancy loss, postpartum, or related medical conditions.
How pregancy accomodations can help employees and students
Employees and students are entitled to:
- Access to a lactation space which must be a space, other than a bathroom, that is clean, shielded from view, free from intrusion from others, and may be used by an employee for expressing breast milk or breastfeeding as needed.
- Reasonable accommodations related to pregnancy and related conditions which include, but are not limited to:
- Accessible seating (i.e. a larger desk)
- Mobility support (i.e. temporary handicap parking passes)
Additional support for students and employees is available as discussed in the following policies:
- Employees who need to request FMLA or major medical leave should contact the HR Benefits Team at hrbenefits@olemiss.edu.
- Graduate students inquiring about accommodations and relief can find more information in the UM Parental and Family Relief for Graduate Assistants Policy.
How supervisors can help with pregancy accomodations
Supervisors are responsible for:
- Making reasonable accommodations for the known limitations of an employee or applicant, unless the accommodation would cause an undue hardship
- Engaging in an interactive process with the pregnant employee and, if requested or necessary, the EORC Office, to identify and implement reasonable accommodations
- Offering jobs or other employment opportunities to qualified employees or applicants regardless of their need for reasonable accommodations
- Allowing an employee to continue working if reasonable accommodations can be provided to allow the employee’s continued employment
Supervisors can contact the EORC Office directly at pregnancy@olemiss.edu with questions about accommodations and/or the HR Benefits team at hrbenefits@olemiss.edu for questions about FMLA or major medical leave.
Frequently Asked Questions
Generally, university policies mandating accommodations for employees are limited to pregnancy, childbirth, pregnancy loss, postpartum or recovery from pregnancy or related conditions and do not extend to subsequent childcare issues. In some cases, individual university departments or units may elect to take steps on a voluntary basis to accommodate employees experiencing short-term childcare related issues, but this is not required by policy.
- Employees interested in the Flexible Work Policy or Flexible Work Location Policy should discuss directly with their supervisors.
If you are a supervisor and have received a pregnancy or childbirth related accommodation request, you are required to make reasonable accommodations provided they do not present an undue hardship or undue burden (ex. significant difficulty or expense).
- If you are able to fully implement the requested accommodation with no changes, you are free to implement it on your own. No further approval or review is required.
- If the specific accommodation requested appears to present an undue burden or undue hardship you should not simply deny the request. Rather, you should contact the EORC Office to facilitate an interactive process by which you and the employment attempt to reach a mutually agreeable accommodation.
- The University reserves the right to review documentation as needed. However, documentation pertaining to proof of pregnancy is not generally required for employment-related EORC accommodations.
- For student-related accommodations, the Title IX Office requires documentation from a medical provider establishing proof of pregnancy and may request additional documentation related to specific accommodation requests.
- HR requires a medical certification form to be completed by both the employee and the medical provider for employees requesting FMLA or major medical leave.