On May 18, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in AT&T Corp. v. Hulteen, No. 07-543, that an employer does not necessarily violate the Pregnancy Discrimination Act ("PDA") when it pays pension benefits calculated in part under an accrual rule, applied only pre-PDA, that gave less retirement credit for pregnancy than for medical leave generally. Because AT&T's pension payments were in accordance with a bona fide seniority system's terms, those payments were insulated from challenge under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The plaintiffs had taken pregnancy leave in the 1960's and early to mid-1970's, and AT&T had treated that leave as personal -- not disability -- leave. AT&T's treatment of pregnancy leave did not violate the law as it existed at that time. Congress, however, subsequently enacted the PDA in 1978, which prohibited employers from treating pregnancy-related conditions less favorably than other medical conditions