{"id":25,"date":"2013-03-28T08:21:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-28T08:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sjbealehrconsult-co-uk.php5.hostingweb.co.uk\/blog\/?p=25"},"modified":"2013-12-06T20:44:53","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T19:44:53","slug":"pregnancy-and-maternity-discrimination-the-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sjbealehrconsult.co.uk\/blog\/pregnancy-and-maternity-discrimination-the-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination &#8211; The Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<div><span>In 2005 the former Equal Opportunities Commission (now the Equalities and Human Rights Commission)\u00a0conducted a formal investigation into pregnancy discrimination. Their final report found that the main areas of unfair treatment during pregnancy were denial of a pay increase, refusal of promotion, having to take lower-paid work, being excluded from training and refusal of time-off for ante-natal care. <\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>The Equality Act 2010 introduced protection from discrimination related to pregnancy and maternity leave. To show discrimination a woman does not have to compare herself\u00a0to how a man might have been treated. She must show that \u2018but for\u2019 her pregnancy she\u00a0would not have been dismissed or treated less favourably. All employees, casual workers, agency workers, freelancers and self-employed women are protected by sex discrimination law from day one of their employment.\u00a0 Employees are also protected from\u00a0detriment or dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy or maternity leave \u00a0in accordance with the Employment\u00a0Rights Act 1996 and Maternity and Parental Leave etc Regulations 1999. \u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>An employer must not: <\/span><\/div>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li><span>Treat a pregnant woman less favourably for a reason related to her <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>pregnancy, pregnancy related absence or absence on maternity leave. It is <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>discrimination to dismiss, make redundant or otherwise treat her less favourably, <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>\u00a0eg in relation to a pay rise, promotion, training; <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Select a woman for redundancy for a reason related to her pregnancy, the consequences <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>of her pregnancy or absence on maternity leave; <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Select a woman for redundancy because she is working part-time or flexibly unless there <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>are very good objective reasons; <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Treat a pregnant woman less favourably because of pregnancy related absence<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><span>Women who are pregnant or on maternity leave also have the right to health and safety protection and the right to reasonable paid time off for ante natal care along with 52 weeks maternity leave and maternity benefits if the woman qualifies. <\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>However despite the steady stream of legislation to protect women\u2019s rights in this area,\u00a0\u00a0it seems things have not changed.\u00a0 According to a recent report conducted by Working Families, pregnant women continue to be discriminated against. \u00a0With the economic downturn has come a rise in the number of calls to the organisation from women facing maternity or pregnancy discrimination such as: <\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><span>being singled out for redundancy<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>not being offered suitable alternative employment as part of the redundancy procedure,<\/span><span>\u00a0being dismissed from employment on the day they inform their employer of their pregnancy, or very soon after,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>being selected for redundancy with the suggestion that pregnancy is the reason,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>wishing return to work part time but have to leave employment instead because their employer refuses to allow them to work part time<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>finding their jobs have gone on returning from maternity leave<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>One woman contacted the organisation who was 28 weeks pregnant and was told she would be made redundant the next month. She was the only one of seven staff to be selected for \u00a0redundancy and was given no reasons why. \u00a0When asked why she thought she had been \u00a0selected she said \u201cMy employer doesn\u2019t want to pay SMP\u201d (Maternity pay).<\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>Another organisation, Maternity Action, have reported that pregnant women or those on maternity leave have been given no reason why they have been selected for redundancy or were given reasons that were tantamount to discrimination such as preferring full time employees.\u00a0 Others were not offered health and safety protection during pregnancy or maternity leave. \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>A recent high profile employment tribunal case further highlights the issues.\u00a0 \u00a0A female employee of the company that was the first employer of the Duchess of Cambridge, alleged that when she told her male boss that she was pregnant for the third time in three years, she was told \u201cit really isn\u2019t ideal.\u201d Furthermore she alleged she was \u201cvetoed\u201d for the position of chief financial officer on the same day she announced her pregnancy. She claimed sex discrimination, unfair dismissal and discrimination on the grounds of maternity. <\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>Alan Sugar, \u00a0the influential business leader, has publicly commented that he feels maternity laws have gone too far, which does not help matters.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span>However protecting women who are pregnant or on maternity leave encourages women\u2019s participation in the workplace and adds to diversity and the talent pool &#8211; it therefore makes good business sense. Discrimination exposes employers to the threat of legal action with unlimited compensation in an employment tribunal as well as the risk of a damaged reputation. \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2005 the former Equal Opportunities Commission (now the Equalities and Human Rights Commission)\u00a0conducted a formal investigation into pregnancy discrimination. Their final report found that the main areas of unfair treatment during pregnancy were denial of a pay increase, refusal of promotion, having to take lower-paid work, being excluded from training and refusal of time-off [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maternity-discrimination","category-pregnancy-discrimination"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination - The Reality<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sjbealehrconsult.co.uk\/blog\/pregnancy-and-maternity-discrimination-the-reality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination - The Reality\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2005 the former Equal Opportunities Commission (now the Equalities and Human Rights Commission)\u00a0conducted a formal investigation into pregnancy discrimination. 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