By Brent Kendall 

WASHINGTON--The Supreme Court on Wednesday struggled with how to balance workplace rights for pregnant women, in a case brought against United Parcel Service by a former delivery driver.

The Supreme Court took the case to clarify the meaning of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which requires employers to treat pregnant women the same as nonpregnant employees who are "similar in their ability or inability to work." During an hourlong oral argument, the justices sent no clear signals of how they would rule.

Peggy Young, the driver, alleged UPS discriminated against her after she became pregnant in 2006, saying the company wouldn't accommodate doctor-recommended lifting restrictions, forcing her to take unpaid leave and lose medical coverage. UPS said its policies didn't discriminate because they provided across-the-board rules accommodating workers injured on the job, but not those who faced lifting restrictions because of off-the-job medical conditions.

"That's a far cry from a policy that singles out pregnant women," UPS lawyer Caitlin Halligan told the justices Wednesday. Two lower courts ruled for UPS in the case. UPS has announced plans to broaden its policies to accommodate pregnant workers beginning in 2015.

Samuel Bagenstos, a lawyer for Ms. Young, said the UPS policy discriminated because the company made accommodations for certain workers, such as for those who lost their Transportation Department driving certifications or who had qualifying disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The company's position "would give least-favored-nation status to pregnant workers and we know that that can't be something that Congress intended," Mr. Bagenstos said.

Congress passed the pregnancy law in 1978, effectively overruling a 1976 Supreme Court decision that said General Electric Co. didn't violate civil-rights law by not covering pregnancy-related disabilities as part of its disability benefits plan.

Two of the court's female justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan were vocal Wednesday with skepticism about arguments made by UPS. The pregnancy-discrimination law "was supposed to be about removing stereotypes of pregnant women as marginal workers," Justice Kagan said. "It was supposed to be about ensuring that they wouldn't be unfairly excluded from the workplace."

Justice Stephen Breyer and others suggested the case was difficult because employers "have all kinds of different rules for different kinds of jobs." He and Justice Antonin Scalia cited seniority systems in which longer-tenured workers get better treatment than others. "How do we tell" which distinctions are reasonable and which ones aren't, Justice Breyer asked.

The court's eventual ruling, expected by the end of June, could set important rules on protections for pregnant workers, but there are other developments that could influence employer policies.

UPS said nine states have passed laws that require accommodations for pregnant workers and others are considering similar measures. The Obama administration, meanwhile, said in a court brief that pregnant workers might be able to obtain protections under the 2008 amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The federal government's arguments about the scope of the pregnancy-discrimination law raised some consternation with the justices on Wednesday because its legal position has changed over time. U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argued in favor of Ms. Young, but acknowledged the Justice Department previously has defended employer policies by the U.S. Postal Service similar to those at UPS.

Since then, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued enforcement guidance expanding protections for workers with pregnancy-related conditions.

Mr. Verrilli told the court employers shouldn't be allowed to "treat pregnancy-related medical conditions worse than other conditions with comparable effects on ability to work."

Write to Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com

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