February 23, 2017

Potential Impact of ACA Repeal on Pregnant Women and Mothers

Our Associate Alex Berke is quoted in this Well Rounded NY article about how a repeal of the Affordable Care Act could impact pregnant women and moms:

"But Trump’s threat to repeal Obamacare means a potential loss much broader than coverage for breastfeeding counseling. “The ACA also includes provisions providing breastfeeding moms at companies with 50 or more employees with a reasonable break time to pump in a private location that is not a bathroom,” says Alex Berke, an associate at Berke-Weiss Law PLLC. Berke spearheads the firm’s Pregnancy Project, including classes on workplace rights for the modern mom.

“Any repeal of the ACA would take [workplace breastfeeding] rights away and leave women vulnerable to being denied health insurance due to their pregnancy or cesarean recovery being considered a pre-existing condition,” Berke says. “Women should also be concerned that an ACA repeal could allow insurance companies to charge women more in their monthly premiums, a practice that was stopped by the ACA, and is explicitly allowed in Congressman Tom Price’s bill, one of the few legislative ‘replace’ options.”'

Learn More about Your Rights with the Pregnancy Project

The First Recession for Women

August 11, 2020
Gender Discrimination
There is a new feature to the pandemic-induced recession that has decimated employment, manufacturing, child care, education, and just about every other facet of life. It is women, not men who are the most greatly affected by the force of the shutdown.

The Berke-Weiss Law Weekly Roundup: Black Pregnancy in New York City and School Reopening Reversals

August 10, 2020
Race Discrimination
Pregnancy Discrimination
We’re now a week into the expiration of the enhanced unemployment benefits of the CARES Act and the news is not good. Congress and the White House remain at least a trillion of dollars apart on a new deal, with the Senate GOP split, though their prized bit of the CARES Act, the corporate bailout, did not have an expiration date, unlike those parts aimed at protecting workers, such as the PUA and eviction moratoriums. Thus, with depressing predictability, there were a spate of alarming stories this week echoing the fears that tenant unions and activists have been voicing for months: by ending employment relief we are hurtling toward a cliff, over which lies massive, nationwide evictions.

The Week in FFCRA Complaints: Yet More Wrongful Terminations and Retaliation

August 10, 2020
Leave
Disability Discrimination
As we noted last week, employers seem not to have gotten the message on paid leave under FFCRA and the two notable cases that came up this week both involve employer retaliation and wrongful termination against employees who were protected under FFCRA.

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