A pregnant TSA officer at DFW asking for a stool to sit on during shift work. A pregnant nurse at the Dallas VA needing a lifting restriction. A new mother returning to her IRS service center role and asking for a private space to pump. None of these requests should produce a fight, and most don’t. The ones that do tend to follow a familiar pattern: the request gets passed between a supervisor, HR, and a Reasonable Accommodation Coordinator, weeks pass, and the employee ends up either working without the accommodation or burning leave to avoid the problem. A Dallas federal employee attorney who handles pregnancy and lactation accommodation cases sees the same script across federal agencies in DFW, and the legal framework now in place gives federal workers more leverage than agencies sometimes acknowledge.
The Two New Federal Statutes That Changed the Landscape
Two recent federal statutes substantially expanded the rights of pregnant and nursing workers, and both apply to federal employees.
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 and effective June 27, 2023, requires covered employers, including federal agencies, to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees and applicants with known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship. The statute is codified at 42 U.S.C. § 2000gg.
The PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act (Providing Urgent Maternal Protections), also enacted in late 2022, expanded the Fair Labor Standards Act’s break-time-and-space requirements to cover virtually all employees, including most exempt federal workers who had previously been excluded. It’s codified primarily at 29 U.S.C. § 218d.
These statutes operate alongside the existing framework: Title VII as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Rehabilitation Act’s Section 501 for pregnancy-related disabilities, the FMLA, and the federal sector EEO process at 29 C.F.R. Part 1614.
What the PWFA Actually Requires
The PWFA’s accommodation framework parallels the ADA’s but with specific features that favor pregnant workers. A “qualified employee” is one who can perform the essential functions of the job, with or without reasonable accommodation, OR who cannot perform an essential function temporarily, where the inability is for a reasonable period, the essential function can be performed in the near future, and the inability can be reasonably accommodated.
That second prong is the meaningful expansion. Under the ADA, an employee who can’t perform an essential function generally isn’t qualified. Under the PWFA, temporary inability to perform an essential function during pregnancy is itself accommodatable, as long as the function can be performed in the near future (the EEOC’s regulations interpret this as generally up to 40 weeks after the limitation begins).
Common PWFA accommodations include:
- More frequent or longer breaks
- A stool or chair for jobs typically performed standing
- Limits on heavy lifting, with light-duty assignments where appropriate
- Schedule modifications and time off for prenatal appointments
- Closer parking or modified workstation setup
- Temporary transfer to a less strenuous or less hazardous position
- Leave to recover from childbirth or related conditions when other accommodations aren’t effective
The EEOC’s final rule implementing the PWFA, published in April 2024 at 29 C.F.R. Part 1636, provides detailed guidance on accommodations and the interactive process.
What the PUMP Act Adds
The PUMP Act requires employers to provide reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for one year after the child’s birth, each time the employee has a need to express, and to provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion.
For federal employees, this means agencies must:
- Provide reasonable, unscheduled break time as needed
- Designate or make available a private space (not a bathroom) suitable for pumping
- Treat compensable break time as paid if the employee is not completely relieved from duty during the break
Federal facilities in DFW (the FAA Southwest Region offices in Fort Worth, the Earle Cabell Federal Building in Dallas, the various IRS facilities, the VA medical centers, the FAA en route center) all have varying levels of dedicated lactation space. Where adequate space doesn’t exist, the agency has to create or designate it.
The Federal Sector Process When a Request Is Denied
Federal employees access these protections through the same channel as other discrimination and accommodation claims: the agency’s EEO office, with the 45-day contact deadline that catches federal workers off guard year after year.
If an accommodation is denied, the employee has 45 calendar days from the denial (or the last clearly adverse act in a continuing failure to accommodate) to contact an EEO counselor. Telling a supervisor that the request was unfairly denied does not start the EEO process. Filing a union grievance does not start it either. Only contact with a designated EEO counselor at the agency’s EEO office triggers the protection.
After timely contact:
- Informal counseling runs for 30 days, extendable to 90 with consent
- A Notice of Right to File a Formal Complaint follows if unresolved
- The employee has 15 days to file the formal complaint
- The agency conducts an investigation, up to 180 days
- The employee then chooses between a hearing before an EEOC administrative judge at the Dallas District Office or a final agency decision
For the PUMP Act specifically, federal employees can also file a complaint with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, which has separate enforcement authority under the FLSA. Some cases benefit from filing in both forums.
What to Do Before Requesting or After a Denial
Make every accommodation request in writing, even if a written request just confirms an oral conversation. Keep copies. Note dates, times, and recipients.
Get medical documentation that connects the pregnancy or related condition to the specific work limitations and the requested accommodations. Generic provider notes are weaker than letters that identify the specific job functions affected.
Track every step in the interactive process: who responded, what was offered, what was rejected, what timelines were given. Unreasonable delay can itself be a denial under EEOC precedent.
Avoid signing any agreement that purports to limit accommodation rights or waive claims without counsel review.
Federal employees in the DFW region facing pregnancy or lactation accommodation issues across the FAA Southwest Region, the VA North Texas Health Care System, IRS facilities, the FBI Dallas Field Office, SSA hearing offices, HUD Region VI, ICE/HSI, CBP at DFW, and other agencies all operate under the same statutory framework with agency-specific overlays.
For background, the EEOC’s PWFA resources at eeoc.gov/pregnant-workers-fairness-act, the Department of Labor’s PUMP Act page at dol.gov/agencies/whd/pump-at-work, and 29 C.F.R. Part 1636 are the primary references.
Talk to a Dallas Federal Employee Attorney Before the 45-Day Window Closes
Pregnancy and lactation accommodation cases reward early action. A request that gets stalled for months without timely EEO contact often loses its strongest legal posture. A Dallas federal employee attorney engaged when a request is first denied, or when the agency has failed to respond, can help preserve every option the new statutes were designed to provide. If your accommodation request has been denied, ignored, or met with retaliation, contact counsel before the procedural deadlines run.
