General Electric Co. v. Gilbert

General Electric Co. v. Gilbert,, is a 1976 United States Supreme Court case concerning pregnancy discrimination and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In a 6–3 decision, the Court held that an employer excluding pregnancy-related disabilities from coverage under their disability benefits plan did not violate Title VII. The Court's majority opinion applied its conclusion in the then-recent case of Geduldig v. Aiello, which had been focused on the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, to the Civil Rights Act. The decision in Gilbert generated considerable backlash and prompted Congress to abrogate it by passing the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. The Supreme Court itself later acknowledged that this Act had overturned its holding in Gilbert, namely, that pregnancy discrimination was not unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII.