Right to sit in the United States

There is no federal right to sit law, nor is the US a signatory to the International Labour Organization's Hygiene (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1964, which contains a suitable seating provision.

Largely obscure and rarely enforced for over a century, right to sit laws have obtained new relevance following several high-profile lawsuits against major corporations in California and other states during the 2010s and 2020s.

States with current, gender-neutral right to sit laws include California, Florida, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, and Wisconsin.

The majority of states and the District of Columbia repealed their right to sit laws between 1953 and 2015, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

Right to sit laws have been enacted at the local level in several cities, including Ann Arbor, Michigan; Portland, Oregon; and St. Louis, Missouri.

Commons and Andrews claimed that these early right to sit laws were "of little real importance in protecting health...since it is practically impossible to see that employers and foremen allow the seats to be used even when provided.

"[3] By 1932, almost all of the states, the District of Columbia, and the territories of Puerto Rico and the Philippines, had passed laws requiring some form of suitable seating for women workers.

[citation needed] Arizona's General Construction Safety Code, 1957 prohibited women from working in mines, quarries, coal breakers, or other jobs that required standing.

"[53] In 2016, the Supreme Court of California ruled in Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc. that workers whose jobs can be done while sitting down some or all of the time cannot be denied suitable seating.

[citation needed] In 1909, Illinois's law stated that "every person, firm or corporation employing females in any factory, mercantile establishment, mill or workshop in this State, shall provide a reasonable number of suitable seats for the use of such female employé [s], and shall permit the use of such seats by them when they are not necessarily engaged in the active duties for which they are employed..."[71] The law was later repealed.

Language such as "shall provide...when practicable" and "permit the use...to such extent as the work engaged in may reasonably admit of" are specifications which made enforcement difficult.

The report claimed that seating arrangements at Iowa establishments in 1922 ranged from "workers stand all day" with "not a chair in sight" to "all of them sit all the time."

[63] As of 1970, Iowa law required "employers of females in workshops, mercantile, manufacturing or business establishments to provide suitable seats and permit their use when duties reasonably allow it.

[22] One April 4, 1896, the State of Maryland enacted legislation stipulating that a chair or stool be provided to women workers in mercantile establishments.

[89] The measure was co-sponsored by delegates Marlon Amprey, Lorig Charkoudian, David Moon, Joseline Peña-Melnyk, and Sheila Ruth.

[91] The Maryland State & DC AFL-CIO described the bill as a "simple measure" that could nonetheless be of legal importance in class action lawsuits.

[93] Delegate Stewart sponsored the Right to Sit Act (HB0017) a second time, with the bill receiving an unfavorable report from the Economic Matters committee in 2023.

[107] The Small Business Association of Michigan stated that Ann Arbor's right to sit ordinance is "landmark" legislation that "marks a shift towards more inclusive workplace standards".

[108] On September 26, 2024, Michigan Representative Dylan Wegela submitted House Bill 5983, proposing a statewide right to sit law.

[citation needed] The Nebraska Fair Employment Practice Act lists sitting as a reasonable accommodation "with respect to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions".

[60] A 1955, amendment to New Hampshire's occupational health and safety law granted the right to suitable seating for female workers at all commercial establishments.

[130][131] In 2022, New York State Senators Rachel May and Alessandra Biaggi proposed the "Standing is Tiring (SIT) Act" that would require suitable seating for all workers regardless of sex.

The law stated that "persons, firms, or corporations who employ females in a store, shop, office, or manufacturing establishment, as clerks, operators, or helpers in any business, trade, or occupation carried on or operated in the state of North Carolina, shall be required to procure and provide proper and suitable seats for all such females, and shall permit the use of such seats, rests, or stools as may be necessary, and shall not make any rules, regulations, or orders preventing the use of such seats, stools or rests when any such female employee or employees are not actively employed or engaged in their work in such business or employment."

A subsequent legislative act in 1915 further covered "any factory, mine, mill, workshop, mechanical or mercantile establishment, laundry, hotel, restaurant, rooming' house, theater or moving-picture show, barber shop, telegraph, telephone, or other office, express or transportation company, any State institution, or any other establishment, institution, or enterprise where women are employed."

[149] Virginia's law stated that "chairs, stools, or other suitable seats shall be maintained in all factories, shops, mills, laundries, mercantile and manufacturing establishments, except fruit and vegetable canning factories, for the use of female employees therein to the number of at least one seat for every three females employed, and the use thereof by such employees shall be allowed at such times and to such extent as may be necessary for the preservation of their health.

Suitable seating law supporters also note that the right to sit grants pregnant and disabled workers immediate relief, as the process of approval for reasonable accommodation takes time.

Professor Carol Louw of the University of South Africa claims that female-specific provisions in right to sit laws "reinforced stereotypes regarding women's frailty."

[171] Many employers, often in retail, require workers to stand for the duration of their shift due to the belief that sitting is inefficient, looks unprofessional, or is unsuitable for the nature of the work.

[173] The American Tort Reform Association's "Judicial Hellholes" program has denounced California's suitable seating law for allegedly protecting "lazy cashiers and their opportunistic lawyers", and praised a trial court ruling that would later be reversed on appeal (see above).

New York State Assembly member Karines Reyes, a supporter of the bill, responded by saying that the jokes were "funny", but the law would be reasonably applied.