In most cases, your employer can change your schedule or reduce your hours for legitimate business reasons, but it is illegal to cut your hours because you are pregnant, recovering from childbirth, on light duty, or returning from maternity leave. The difference is the reason: a neutral, across-the-board cut is usually lawful, while singling you out for being pregnant or having a pregnancy-related condition is a form of sex discrimination under federal law. If your hours dropped right after you announced a pregnancy, requested an accommodation, or came back from leave, that timing is a red flag worth taking seriously.
The federal baseline: what the law actually protects
The United States has no general law guaranteeing you a fixed number of hours. Most American workers are "at-will," which means an employer can usually change schedules, shifts, and hours for business reasons (slow season, restructuring, budget cuts) without breaking the law. The key word is reason. Several federal laws make it illegal to use pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition as that reason.
Title VII and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA)
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), makes it unlawful for employers with 15 or more employees to discriminate based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Under the PDA, your employer must treat you the same as any other employee who is similar in their ability or inability to work. So if your employer keeps the hours of other workers with temporary limitations but cuts yours because you are pregnant, that is illegal. The agency that enforces Title VII and the PDA is the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) took effect in 2023 and is a major upgrade in protection. It requires covered employers (again, generally 15 or more employees) to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless doing so causes the employer "undue hardship." Accommodations can include light duty, a modified schedule, more frequent breaks, a stool to sit on, or time off to recover. Importantly, the PWFA says an employer generally cannot force you to take leave or cut your hours if another reasonable accommodation would let you keep working. The EEOC enforces the PWFA, and the law specifically protects you from retaliation for asking for an accommodation.
The ADA
Pregnancy itself is not a disability, but pregnancy-related conditions (such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, or complications requiring bed rest) can qualify as disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If they do, you may be entitled to reasonable accommodations, and your employer cannot reduce your hours or demote you simply because of that condition. The ADA also covers employers with 15 or more employees and is enforced by the EEOC.
The FMLA
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth and care of a child. To be eligible you generally must have worked for your employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours in the prior year, and work at a location with 50 or more employees within 75 miles. When your leave ends, the FMLA entitles you to return to the same or an equivalent job with equivalent pay, benefits, and other terms. Cutting your hours when you return, when comparable coworkers kept theirs, can violate the FMLA's reinstatement guarantee. The FMLA is enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division.
"Can my employer cut my hours if I'm on light duty?"
This is one of the most common pregnancy questions, and the answer has improved a lot recently. In the past, some employers offered light duty only to workers injured on the job and refused it to pregnant workers. Under the PDA, courts have held that if an employer accommodates large numbers of non-pregnant workers with similar limitations, it generally must accommodate pregnant workers too. The PWFA goes further: light duty or a modified schedule is exactly the kind of reasonable accommodation it was designed to require.
That said, light duty sometimes legitimately comes with fewer hours if the available modified work genuinely has fewer hours for everyone, or if your own medical restrictions limit what you can do. The line to watch is whether your employer is using "light duty" as an excuse to push you out, cut your pay, or pressure you into unpaid leave when a reasonable accommodation would let you keep your normal schedule. Under the PWFA, the employer is supposed to discuss options with you (an "interactive process") rather than unilaterally slashing your hours.
How wage and hour rules fit in
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) governs minimum wage and overtime, but it does not guarantee a minimum number of hours or protect you from a schedule reduction by itself. It does require that you be paid for all hours you actually work, including time spent on accommodations like pumping breaks. The PUMP Act expanded protections so that most nursing employees are entitled to reasonable break time and a private, non-bathroom space to express breast milk. If your hours or pay are being shorted around these breaks, that is a Wage and Hour Division issue.