Texas Senate Bill 361, introduced in the Texas Senate in November 2024, would amend the Texas Labor Code to ban employment discrimination based on a worker’s reproductive decisions. The companion Texas House Bill is HB 302. By the end of February 2025, both were sent to committee. The legislative session ends in June 2025.

These measures address only issues of employment discrimination. But this topic, reproductive discrimination, runs headlong into the already overheated conversation about the near-total abortion ban in Texas. Nonetheless, efforts to protect family decision making from employment discrimination may not be as stalled as first appears.

New Texas Law Would Protect Reproductive Rights at Work

Whether either bill will or will not eventually become Texas law may be a theoretical question. But here are a few examples of employment terminations based on a worker’s reproductive decisions to consider:

• Pregnancy in the Workplace – An Austin pub owner fired a bartender after her pregnancy became visible because of alleged fears for her safety, according to the employer who fired her. Her manager later told her that she was becoming “too much of a liability.”
• Pregnancy – Shortly after a Texas business partner informed her new supervisor that she was pregnant, she was placed on a 30-day performance improvement plan and thereafter terminated. The employer cited issues involving work habits and time management. There was no mention of these performance issues before she disclosed her pregnancy.
• Workplace Retaliation – In 2021, a company run by radio personality Dave Ramsey fired nine employees for having sex outside of marriage. They were fired, the company alleged, for violating the company’s “righteous living” policy.

Few employers are so careless or legally uninformed as to cite pregnancy, contraception, or “lifestyle” in decisions involving termination, promotion, a sudden change in duties, or availability of overtime.

Instead, reasons for termination may include a desire to protect women. Translated, this could illustrate an implicit fear that the company’s insurance premiums may increase. An employer may cite the violation of some other company policy. Perhaps more insidious is the creation of an exculpatory paper trail of performance issues after the decision to terminate a pregnant worker has been made.

Kilgore Law Attorneys Understand Texas Discrimination Laws and Employee Reproductive Rights

If any of these examples of employment discrimination in Texas sound familiar in your workplace, contact Kilgore & Kilgore. Our employment lawyers may be able to help. Call us at (214) 969-9099. Or visit our website Kilgore Law to send us a message.

Expanding the Definition of Employment Discrimination to Include Reproductive Decisions

Both measures considered by the Texas legislature amend the Texas Labor Code to expand employment discrimination protections by adding “reproductive decisions” as a protected category across multiple sections of existing law. The legislation prohibits employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, and other employment-related entities from discriminating against individuals because of their reproductive decisions.

The term “employment” covers actions such as hiring, firing, compensation, job assignments, and training opportunities. It includes job postings, test scoring, and staffing decisions. It extends these protections to employees at different locations and in various work settings.

Reproductive Discrimination Definition

The term “reproductive decision-making” includes:

• the individual’s marital status at the time of pregnancy;
• the use of assisted reproduction to become pregnant;
• the use of contraception or a specific form of contraception; and
• the obtainment or use of any other health care drug, device, or service relating to reproductive health.

Employee Handbook Requirements

In addition, the measures require employers to include information about reproductive discrimination decisions in employee handbooks. They also render mandatory arbitration agreements void if they attempt to limit the decisions of an employee or their family members.

Application of Reproductive Discrimination Law

Finally, the measures would apply to discrimination claims based on conduct occurring on or after the effective date of September 1, 2025, with a specific provision that the prohibition on restrictive arbitration agreements applies to agreements entered into before, on, or after that date.

Proponents argue that the bill is essential to ensure equal treatment in the workplace, particularly considering recent national discussions surrounding reproductive rights. Critics fear that the bills could lead to increased litigation and operational challenges for businesses.

Reproductive Rights in the Workplace

The measures also reflect a growing trend in state legislatures to address reproductive rights in the workplace. Other states across the country – including California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia – have already considered measures to protect employees from discrimination based on their reproductive health decisions.

Does Federal Law Already Cover the Protection of Reproductive Rights?

There is a compelling argument that much of it is. The federal statutes at issue are:

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII);
• The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA); and
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

In brief, Title VII protections prohibit sex discrimination, including pregnancy discrimination. Pregnancy discrimination can be based on:

• current, past, or potential pregnancy,
• a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth,
• having or choosing not to have an abortion, and
• contraception.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)

The PWFA requires a covered employer to provide a reasonable accommodation to a worker’s known limitation related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. There is an exception for accommodations if it causes an employer undue hardship.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

The ADA prohibits discrimination against an applicant or employee based on a disability, including a disability related to a pregnancy such as diabetes that develops during pregnancy. An employer may be required to provide that worker with a reasonable accommodation for pregnancy-related disability.

Kilgore & Kilgore Employment Lawyers Help Workers Fight Reproductive Discrimination

Do not give up, even if the measures designed to protect workers from reproductive discrimination do not pass during this legislative session. Every situation is different. Fighting workplace discrimination in Texas is what we do at Kilgore Law. For more information, visit our website Kilgore Law. Also, click on any of the following links to find specific information about these employment issues: Sexual Harassment, Pregnant Workers Protection Act and Employment Law.

Victims of Discrimination

Reach out to us if you have been the victim of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful termination, or other workplace equality issues. Call us at 214-969-9099 or click here to get the conversation started Kilgore Law. Fill out and submit the form on our website. Let us help you.