Washington Attorney General Nick Brown has dragged Providence Health & Services into court, accusing the state’s largest hospital system of routinely blowing off legally required pregnancy and nursing accommodations for its own workers.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in King County Superior Court, claims that since 2021 Providence has repeatedly failed to give pregnant and nursing employees the basic adjustments state law requires. Nurses and other frontline caregivers are among those named in the complaint, which says some staff waited weeks for answers or were told to keep doing tasks that conflicted with medical restrictions ordered by their doctors. Brown’s office is asking a judge to force Providence to comply with Washington’s Healthy Starts Act and to secure financial relief for employees the state says were harmed.
According to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office, state investigators concluded that Providence repeatedly denied or did not follow through on accommodations such as more frequent opportunities to sit, lifting limits of 17 pounds, schedule flexibility for prenatal appointments, and private time and space to express breast milk. “Taking commonsense steps to keep pregnant and nursing employees and their babies safe and healthy isn’t optional, it’s the law,” Brown said in the statement. The office says it approached Providence to raise these concerns and tried to resolve them before filing suit, per the Washington Attorney General’s Office.
The complaint and local reporting say Providence has received more than 300 pregnancy or nursing accommodation requests from Washington employees since 2021, and that some workers waited as long as a month for decisions. The suit alleges Providence at times demanded medical certification in situations where the law does not allow it and that several employees who sought accommodations faced retaliation, including discipline, being pushed onto leave or being fired. The filing and related coverage were reviewed by the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Providence, which runs more than three dozen hospitals in Washington, has pushed back publicly. The health system said it tried to engage with the Attorney General’s Office before the lawsuit, but that state officials “refused to share meaningful information that would allow us to understand their assertions,” and insisted Providence is “committed to caring for our caregivers,” according to reporting. Providence also pointed to its paid parental leave and other caregiver support programs as it reviews the complaint and keeps talking with the state, per Fierce Healthcare.
The Washington State Nurses Association cheered the move by the AG’s office, saying it “wholeheartedly supports” the lawsuit and calling on Providence to live up to what the union describes as its legal and moral responsibilities to pregnant and nursing staff. The union says the allegations mirror what nurses have been raising at the bargaining table and inside facilities for some time, and that the case could ramp up pressure on the health system as it plays out. The full statement is available from WSNA.
Legal context and recent enforcement
Washington’s Healthy Starts Act, along with other state protections, requires employers to provide a range of accommodations for pregnancy and related conditions. Those include more flexible restroom and break use, access to seating, limits on heavy lifting and a private space for lactation. Lawmakers have strengthened these rules in recent legislative updates, giving pregnant and nursing workers clearer rights and expanding what employers must do.
The Department of Labor & Industries is preparing to take over key enforcement duties under the updated law, which broadens employer obligations and adds new enforcement tools. Brown’s office has already shown it is willing to use those tools in pregnancy-related cases. Earlier this year, the state secured a 5.6 million dollar resolution with O’Reilly Auto Parts that required policy changes and ongoing monitoring. For more detail, see L&I’s reporting and prior coverage of the O’Reilly settlement (L&I, O'Reilly slapped with 5.6M bill).
What to watch next
The state’s complaint asks for a permanent court order blocking Providence from using the alleged practices in the future and for restitution to workers who were denied accommodations or faced retaliation. The case, filed in King County Superior Court, does not yet have a trial date.
Employees who believe they were unlawfully denied pregnancy or lactation accommodations at Providence facilities in Washington can contact the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Division at [email protected] or by calling (833) 660-4877, as outlined in the AG’s release. However it ends, the lawsuit is likely to influence how large health systems across the region handle requests for basic pregnancy protections going forward.
