Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has signed a bill that backers say will keep women from having to choose between healthy pregnancies or keeping their jobs.
The law requires employers to offer "reasonable accommodations" to pregnant workers and makes it illegal to fire or refuse to hire a worker because of a pregnancy.
Those accommodations could include anything from temporary transfers to less strenuous positions, to providing workers with a stool to sit on or more frequent bathroom breaks.
Among those attending the Statehouse signing ceremony was Alejandra Duarte, who in April gave powerful testimony to lawmakers about losing her baby at 19 weeks after working grueling 10-hour shifts at an industrial laundry.
Duarte says she hopes the new law would assure that no other woman suffers as she did.
