This is an orthogonal point. I don't see any provision mandating wages or promotions for periods when people are on leave, abled or disabled.

The argument assumes that all people receive the same pay and promotions for the same work. Wage differentials between people from the same age cohort appear because gap years, which are the human approach for infant care, lead to small but measurable delays in the mother's careers.

BTW, this is not an argument that all wage differentials that are observed in the real world are, or should be, explainable this way. It is simply a pushback against rigid Procrustean axioms that risk doing more harm that good.

https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/your-employment-rights-in...