Feds reach agreement with Christian business group on abortion and gender-based employee protections

Federal Building William L. Guy in Bismarck. A year ago, a North Dakota-based Christian employer group filed a lawsuit against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over Biden-era regulations on abortion and gender identity. (Photo: Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reached an agreement this month with a Christian business group to ignore laws that allowed workers to operate abortion facilities and prohibited workplace discrimination based on gender identity.

Christian Employers Alliance President Margaret Iuculano, whose organization sued the EEOC over these two provisions in January 2025, stated in statement Monday that the deal was a “big win” for companies willing to act according to their religion. The CEOs of Hobby Lobby, Regent Bank and AllBetter Health serve on the board of directors of the North Dakota-based nonprofit, which has more than 22,000 members nationwide.

Rules issued under former President Joe Biden said Already invalidated last year by federal courts, but the EEOC’s settlement could herald a move to repeal or change enforcement rules for the landmark pregnant workers law. An EEOC spokesman did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

“As attacks on women’s reproductive choices mount, we are disappointed but not surprised that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sided with the Christian Employers Association in federal court, exempting many large Christian employers from their duty to protect employees seeking abortions,” Inimai Chettiar, president of A Better Balance, said in a statement sent to States Newsroom.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Actwhich took effect in 2023, requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations – such as additional bathroom breaks, a stool to sit on and time off for medical appointments – provided the requests do not cause “undue hardship” to the company.

According to a January 9 report court decision signed by a district judge in North Dakota, the EEOC agreed that current and future alliance members would not be disciplined for refusing to consent to abortion, forcing employees to follow gender-specific dress codes, or requiring employees to operate private spaces that were inconsistent with their gender identity.

Under the provisions, the agreement will terminate if the EEOC issues modern Pregnant Employee Fairness Act regulations and revises or rescinds the Gender Identity Guidelines for compliance Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1965which prohibits discrimination in the workplace.

“The agreement does not prevent the EEOC from investigating allegations of unlawful conduct that are not specifically covered by this agreement, even if they are raised under the same allegation of failure to enforce against CEA or its members,” the order states.

Andrea Lucas, chairwoman of the EEOC, said she generally supports the right for pregnant workers, but I don’t agree in interpreting this measure, abortion should be included in the definition of “pregnancy, childbirth or related conditions.”

She too he said the agency will reconsider the regulations once a quorum of Republicans is re-established on the commission. The Senate approved the approval of the Breton bull of Panuccio, newest commissionerin October, during the federal government shutdown.

Łukasz too opposed harassment guidelines issued by Biden administration officials that said employers should respect employees’ pronouns and allow employees to operate bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.

Chettiar, president of A Better Balance, said the law “explicitly regulates employees’ ability to receive reasonable accommodations for ‘pregnancy-related conditions,’ which have long been interpreted to include abortion as well as other necessary reproductive health care such as in vitro fertilization.” We will continue to fight to keep the PWFA regulations intact and as stringent as possible as the EEOC appears poised to reopen them and potentially narrow the scope of the law.”