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Today in the Supreme Court of the United states, a case involving maternity leave:
今天，美国最高法院接了一起涉及产假的案件：
at issue whether states may require employers to guarantee that pregnant workers are able to return to their jobs after a limited period of unpaid disability leave.
争论各州是否可以要求雇主保证怀孕员工在有限无薪产假后仍能重返工作岗位。
NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.
NPR尼娜·托滕伯格报道。
Nine states already have laws or regulations that require all employers to protect the jobs of workers who are disabled by pregnancy or childbirth.
此前九个州份已经出台相关法律法规，要求所有雇主必须确保员工在怀孕或分娩后仍维持工作岗位。
Depending on what the Supreme Court rules in the case it heard today, those laws will either die or flourish.
这些法律是废是留，取决于最高法院对今日审理案件的判决。
The test case is from California.
这个案件来自加利福尼亚州。
It began with Lillian Garland, the receptionist at California Federal Savings and Loan.
一切从加利福尼亚州联邦储蓄贷款银行的接待员莉莲·加兰开始。
In 1982, she returned to work after having a child and found she had no job.
1982年，她生完孩子后意欲重返工作岗位，却发现自己丢了工作。
"After working for California Federal for over three and a half years, I was told at that time they no longer had a position available for me.
“此前我已在加利福尼亚州联邦储蓄贷款银行工作了三年半多，但他们告诉我，职位已经没了。
My question was, 'Well, what about the job that I've had for so many years?'
那我想问，“那么，我做了这么多年的工作呢？”
And they said, 'We hired the person that you trained in your place.' I was in shock."
他们说：“我们雇了你之前在那里培训的人。”我震惊了。
Officials at California Federal say Garland should not have been surprised,
加利福尼亚州联邦储蓄贷款银行的官员称加兰不该感到惊讶，
that she'd been told at the time she took pregnancy leave that her job was not guaranteed.
她在怀孕期间，我们已经告知她，并不保证她回来后，职位还为她保留。
But the fact is that California law requires all employers in the state to provide up to four months' disability leave for pregnant workers.
但事实是，加利福尼亚州法律要求该州所有雇主应为怀孕员工提供长达四个月的休假。
The leave time is unpaid, and it is only available to women who, because of Pregnancy or childbirth, are physically unable to work.
休假期间工资不再支付，它只适用于那些因怀孕或分娩而无法工作的妇女。
The law does require that such workers get back the same job unless business necessity makes that impossible.
法律规定，除非商业必要性促使工作无法完成，否则这些工人必须恢复休假前的工作。
So when Lillian Garland was told she couldn't have her old job back, she filed discrimination charges against the bank.
所以当莉莲·加兰被告知她无法重返原来的工作岗位时，她对银行提出歧视指控。
The bank then challenged the California pregnancy disability law in court, claiming that the state law amounted to illegal sex discrimination.
银行随即在法庭上质疑加利福尼亚州的怀孕保障法律，声称州法律等同于非法的性别歧视。
The bank's reasoning went like this:
银行的逻辑是这样的：
Federal law bans discrimination in employment based on pregnancy,
联邦法律禁止以怀孕为基础的就业歧视，
but the state law mandates disability leave to women for pregnancy while denying the same leave time to men who are disabled by other ailments,
但是州法律却规定怀孕妇女在怀孕期间可以休假，而休假时间却与因其他疾病无法工作的男性不同，
such as heart attacks and strokes.
比如心脏病和中风。
California counters that the state law does not discriminate between men and women,
加利福尼亚州政府称州法律并没有造成性别歧视，
that it treats them both the same as to all ailments, but grants disability leave only to pregnant workers.
他们对所有的疾病都一视同仁，但只给予怀孕员工以休假权利。
Moreover, California argues that the state law in fact equalizes the situation between men and women,
此外，加利福尼亚州政府认为，州法律实际上均衡了男女之间的状况，
allowing them both to have children without losing their jobs.
让他们有孩子而不失去工作。
The pregnancy disability case has produced some strange bedfellows.
怀孕休假案激发了一些奇怪的共鸣。
The Reagan Administration is siding with the California business community in arguing that federal law requires no special treatment for pregnancy.
里根政府与加利福尼亚商界合作，认为联邦法律无需对怀孕员工进行特殊照顾。
many of the major national woman's organizations agree,
许多主要的全国妇女组织也都赞同，
but argue that the way to cure the problem is to give everybody unpaid disability leave in case of illness.
但认为，解决这个问题的方法是给予每个人无薪病假。
Other woman's organizations, particularly in California, argue that singling out pregnancy for special treatment is not sex discrimination.
其他妇女组织，特别是在加利福尼亚的妇女组织，认为孕期特别照顾不是性别歧视。
Feminist Betty Friedan defends the California law.
女权主义者贝蒂·弗莱顿为加利福尼亚州法律申辩。
"It's not discrimination against men to do something about the fact that women give birth to children.
“对妇女生育一事，并不对男性构成歧视。
It's a fact of life. If men could carry the baby, if men could go through the nine months,
这是生活的事实。如果男人能带着孩子，如果男人能经历那九个月，
if men could have the labor pain, you know, they also should have coverage for pregnancy.
如果男人有分娩痛苦，你知道，他们也应该享有怀孕保险。
You're not discriminating against men; you're recognizing a fact of life: that women are different than men."
你不是在歧视男人，你是在认识生活的事实：女人和男人不同。
On the other side, the lawyer for the bank, Ted Olson, argues that special treatment for pregnancy is obviously discrimination,
另一方面，银行的律师泰德·奥尔森认为，对怀孕的特殊对待显然就是歧视。
and that California companies risk being sued by one group of people if they follow federal law and by another group of people if they follow state law.
加利福尼亚州的公司如果遵循联邦法律，听从另外一方，如果他们遵守州法，就有可能面临起诉。
"The California law requires special treatment of pregnancy; the federal law requires equal treatment of pregnancy.
加利福尼亚州法律要求对怀孕员工进行特殊照顾；而联邦法律要求平等对待妊娠。
An employer is entitled to know which law it must follow."
雇主有权知道他们到底应须遵守哪个法律。”
The fact is, thought, that much of the California business community objects, most of all, to being told that it has to provide any disability leave.
事实上，加利福尼亚商业实体，大多数都被告知他们必须提供任何无法在岗的休假。
Here is Don Butler, President of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association, which is a party to this law suit.
这是唐·巴特勒，商人和制造商协会主席，这起法律诉讼的当事方。
"What we have to get back to, though, is who's going to set the disability leave.
“但我们必须重新考虑的是，谁将设立这个假期。
Is the federal government, is the state of California, or are we, the employers, going to set?
是联邦政府，是加利福尼亚州，还是我们，雇主，将设立？
You, the employee, have the choice of working for our company under the following conditions or working for another company under other conditions.
你，雇员，可以选择在我们所设立的条件下为我们公司工作，也可以选择在别人所设立的条件下为别的公司工作。
And I believe that that was what built this country to be a great free enterprise system.
我相信这正是这个国家能成就伟大自由的企业制度的原因。
And if we're going to legislate it, then we're going to destroy a lot of the incentives to..."
如果我们要立法，那么我们就要破坏很多激励机制…”
"But basically you don't want to be told to have a disability policy at all." "Right."
“但基本上你不想被告知存在这种政策。”“是的。”
In the Supreme Court this morning, perhaps the pivotal question was asked by Justice Louis Powell,
今天早上在最高法院，也许路易斯·鲍威尔法官提出了一个关键问题，
who posed a hypothetical situation to California Deputy Attorney General Marion Johnston.
他对加利福尼亚副检察长玛丽恩·庄士敦提出了一个假设。
"Let us assume," said Justice Powell,
“让我们假设，”鲍威尔法官说。
"that a man and a woman in the same company leave their jobs on the same day: he, because he is ill; she because she's about to have a child.
“同一家公司的一男一女在同一天辞去工作，因为男的病了，女的快要生孩子了。
And they return on the same day, but under the California law she gets her job back and he does not.
而他们又在同一天回来了，但根据加利福尼亚州的法律，女的得到了她的工作，而男的没有。
Is that fair?" asks Justice Powell. Lawyer Johnston responded, "It may not be fair, but it's legal.
这公平吗？”鲍威尔法官问道。律师庄士敦回答说：“这可能不公平，但它合法。
California law," she said, "simply requires that employers treat all their employees, men and women, in the same way with respect to pregnancy.
加利福尼亚州的法律，“她说，“只是要求雇主对于所有的男性和女性雇员尊重妊娠，一视同仁。
But, since men don't get pregnant, they don't get the time off."
但是，因为男人不会怀孕，所以他们没有休息时间。”
A decision in the California case is not expected until next year.
加利福尼亚案的判决直到明年才有可能得出。
I'm Nina Totenberg in Washington.
我是尼娜·托滕伯格，华盛顿报道。
