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A D.C. law that bans discrimination based on reproductive health decisions has garnered a fair amount of attention this year after some of our overseers in Congress tried unsuccessfully to quash it (they’re trying again now through the budgetary process). Yet it is a less publicized bill—one which offers protections for pregnant women and those who have recently given birth—that stands to have the more widespread effect on women’s rights in the workplace. And it has barely been acknowledged.

The Protecting Pregnant Workers Fairness Act of 2014 was passed last year and quietly went into effect in March, making D.C. one of a growing number of states and cities that require employers provide “reasonable accommodations” for pregnant women.

The law is meant to stop employers from forcing a pregnant woman out of her job because she needs to take more breaks or requires a chair or must refrain from heavy lifting. It doesn’t stop with pregnancy, though, codifying that employers have to provide private space to breast feed, and when medically necessary, they are required to give new mothers time off to recover from childbirth.

“It is going to make things much easier for women when they need an accommodation and much easier for us to advocate for them,” said Keira McNett, who co-founded the First Shift Justice Project to help women in low-wage jobs navigate work and family conflict.

While the Supreme Court’s ruling in Young vs. UPS earlier this year has been seen as a major victory for pregnant workers, it didn’t exactly leave a clear blueprint for the future. The federal status in the wake of the UPS case is “very ambiguous,” McNett said. “It was a great decision in a lot of ways but it left a great deal of confusion about what really is the status” under federal law. In D.C., though, pregnant women’s rights in the workplace are no longer in question.

The legislation, which was introduced by Councilmember Vincent Orange (D-At Large) and co-sponsored by eight other Councilmembers, is clear: an employer can ask for a doctor’s note advising the accommodation, but they aren’t allowed to penalize the employee for making the request. And it can only be denied if the employer can prove that it would be an undue burden.

“I do not think that pregnant workers should be forced to choose between their health and their job when reasonable accommodations could be made,” Orange said, adding that there was a tremendous amount of collaboration with local and federal advocates to get the bill right.

In short, D.C. employers are now prohibited from requiring a worker to take leave if making a “reasonable” change—such as temporarily moving her to a less strenuous position or even just letting her have a water bottle—is possible. The law mirrors federal legislation that’s failed to pass several times, though advocates hope it stands a better chance this year because it has won bipartisan support.

It can become a very complicated legal process when an employer refuses a pregnant or nursing woman’s request in states or cities that don’t have similar laws, McNett says. “If you don’t get the accommodation, you’re often out of time. There’s a narrow window of time that you’re pregnant or breast feeding” and the legal system isn’t exactly set up to resolve these things quickly.

But the D.C. law “presumes that they should be accommodated,” said Christine Tschiderer, a fellow at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs who represents and advocates for pregnant workers. “That is significantly different from federal law, under which pregnant workers have to be treated equally as a non-pregnant worker who is similar in their inability and ability to work.”

For example, Tschiderer says, they’ve brought discrimination cases where employees have given pregnant women a hard time for going to the bathroom more frequently. But the law “allows you to be an equal opportunity jerk,” she said, treating pregnant workers just as poorly as non-pregnant ones.

But the local law now shifts the burden of proof from the worker, who previously had to prove she was entitled to an accommodation, to the employer, who now has to prove that it would be an undue burden. “It requires an actual conversation, which is pretty significant,” Tschiderer says. “They have to demonstrate that it would be really difficult, really expensive to implement.”

The law is structured such that the pregnant worker must ask for the accommodations herself, though. “We don’t want an employer to force them to change their work or take a different position” if that isn’t what they want, said Elliot Imse, the director of policy and communications at D.C.’s Office of Human Rights.

As if on cue, the U.S. Park Police settled a lawsuit this week in a case where a detective was put on unwanted light clerical duty despite being able to continue her investigatory work. Renee Abt, a plainclothes detective, notified her supervisor in 2008 that the she was pregnant—as was required at the time—and was promptly sent to work answering phones.

“First my privacy was invaded when there was no need,” Abt told the Washington Post. “I was treated worse than officers who are charged with wrongdoing. I was being penalized just because I was pregnant.” The U.S. Park Police settled the lawsuit for $300,000 and agreed to change its previous pregnancy policies.

“We want it to be a choice [to modify their work duties] by the person,” Imse said. But that also means that women have to be aware of the rights afforded to them.

The law went into effect in March with little fanfare, in part because it wasn’t funded until this year’s budget was passed. The law also designated the Department of Employment Services as the enforcement agency but DOES reached an agreement earlier this month with the Office of Human Rights, in which the OHR will do outreach, investigations of complaints, and mediation.

“What we realized is that the way that their investigation system is set up, it doesn’t align with the needs with workers who would normally file a complaint,” Imse explained, and his office is in a better position to reach out to businesses, employees, caseworkers, and advocacy groups to get the word out.

The law itself also mandates that employers put up a workplace poster advising employees of their rights in both English and Spanish. And when a worker advises her boss that she is pregnant, the employer is required to give written notice of those rights within 10 days in her primary language.

Although some of the modifications that the law requires seem really minor to implement—say, letting a cashier sit on a stool—advocates say they still see case after case where pregnant women are denied small changes that would make a big difference in their ability to work.

“I’ve gotten over saying ‘this really still happens?‘” says McNett, whose non-profit provides free services to women making $22 and hour or less. “In the industries they are working in, pregnancy discrimination and issues with childcare responsibilities or leave are just rampant.”

For pregnant women working in service industries or other low-wage jobs, the law stands to have a dramatic effect. “It really expands women’s ability to stay in the workforce for a longer period of time, especially someone who is having complications, Imse said. “When they are making half the money or more for their families, it’s important that they are able to keep working.”

And critically, it doesn’t just end with pregnancy. Only women who have worked for more than a year, and have completed 1,000 hours service, at a company with 20 or more employees are entitled to unpaid leave under the D.C. Family and Medical Leave Act. “If your employer is too small or you haven’t been there for a year, there is no guarantee your job is going to be there,” McNett says.

But under the Protecting Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, any woman who needs additional time to recover from childbirth for medical reasons is now fully entitled to it—all she might need is a doctor’s note.

“It’s a really phenomenal law that’s really protective of the women we serve,” McNett said.

Pregnant Workers Workplace Poster