Accommodating Pregnant Workers & Updating Water Quality Standards

Accommodating Pregnant Workers & Updating Water Quality Standards

Accommodating Pregnant Workers & Updating Water Quality Standards

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

As part of their summer schedule of webinar training sessions the Washington Farm Labor Association will be presenting a one hour webinar Tuesday, July 22 regarding the recently announced new guidelines for accommodating pregnant workers issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. WAFLA's Dan Fazio says that most HR experts agree that pregnancy is a confusing workplace issue, especially in manual labor positions like agriculture.

FAZIO: Attorneys from the EEOC are going to cover pregnancy disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Pregnancy should be handled as a disability if you're an employer. It's a tough one for agricultural employers when people are pregnant and want to pick apples or cherries or peaches or pears.

The July 22 webinar will be presented at 11:00 am. For more information or to register for the webinar visit www.wafla.org.

On Tuesday, July 22 the state Department of Ecology will hold a public meeting from 1:30 to 3:30 pm to discuss the next steps in updating the state's water quality standards for toxics. The proposed updates have been developed in part based on fish consumption rates in the state. Earlier this month Governor Inslee announced proposed updates to the state's water quality standards to be more protective of those who consume 175 grams of fish per day. Ecology has been directed to issue a preliminary draft rule no later than September 30. The meeting can be attended online, by phone or in person at Ecology headquarters in Lacey. To learn more visit Ecology's website at www.ecy.wa.gov.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.

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