Pregnancy Related Dismissals
How do I know if I’ve been discriminated against on the grounds of my pregnancy? It is not always easy to tell. However, if you feel that your employer is treating you differently on account of your pregnancy then you may have a claim for sex discrimination. Alternatively if you tell your employer that you are pregnant and they dismiss you, then an employment tribunal may find that your dismissal is automatically unfair. You do not even need to have qualifying service to bring this type of claim. Our expert solicitors have extensive experience of bringing cases against a wide range of employers including large multi-national companies.
Some Examples of Pregnancy Discrimination Cases
Example 1
You advise your employer that you are pregnant. As a result of your pregnancy you suffer from morning sickness and tell your employer you are unable to attend work one morning because of it. The next day your employer calls you into their office and fires you on the grounds of your illness the day before. This is likely to be considered discriminatory and would make your dismissal unfair. Remember, it is unlawful for your employer to discriminate against you or dismiss you because you are suffering from a pregnancy related illness or because you have stated your intention to take maternity leave.
Example 2
You tell your employer that you are pregnant and you notice that their attitude towards you changes. Shortly afterwards you are told your position is to be made redundant. This surprises you because you didn’t think that a redundancy situation existed and your employer is recruiting somebody else to replace you. In this scenario the burden would be on your employer to prove that a genuine redundancy situation existed and that you were not discriminated against. In this example the employer has tried to invent another reason for the dismissal and labelled it as a ‘redundancy’. Tribunals are aware of this and consequently your employer would have to prove to them that they didn’t discriminate against you.
Pregnancy Discrimination Checklist
- Is your employer aware that you are pregnant?
- Have you been dismissed or do you feel that you have been treated less favorably because of your pregnancy?
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