Pregnancy & maternity discrimination: Recent wins
Under the Equality Act 2010, it’s illegal for your employer to treat you badly because you’re pregnant or on maternity leave. If they do, you can take them to the employment tribunal for discrimination, and you might win thousands of £ in compensation.
To give you an idea, these situations would count as pregnancy & maternity discrimination:
- Your employer decides not to promote you, even though you’re the best candidate for the job, because you’re pregnant and they don’t want to pay an increased rate to cover your maternity leave
- You return from maternity leave to find your job has been changed unfavourably
- You do shift work and go off sick due to your pregnancy. When you return, you find you’ve been given fewer shifts
- Your role is made redundant while you’re on maternity leave, but your employer failed to consult you or offer you a suitable alternative position because you were off work at the time
To show how the law applies in real life, here are couple of cases that have been in the news recently.
Case study 1
Miss Powell worked at One Transport UK as an HR administrator.
One month after telling her employer she was expecting a baby, she was called to a meeting where she was offered a job with fewer hours and lower pay because of a “downturn in business”.
She took the role but was told she’d have to work from the office every day, while other employees were allowed to work from home.
In addition:
- No pregnancy risk assessment was conducted
- She couldn’t easily access the toilets in the office because of her pregnancy
- She wasn’t invited to the office Christmas party
- Misconduct allegations were made against her and she was invited to a disciplinary hearing
This made her pregnancy a “stressful and difficult time” and affected her mental health, so she went off sick then resigned in January 2023.
Because she hadn’t been continuously employed at the transportation company for two years when she left, Ms Powell couldn’t lodge a claim for unfair or constructive dismissal.
However, she successfully won a claim for discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy and maternity. The company made a total of 16 breaches of contract, including:
- They failed to explain it was necessary for Ms Powell to work solely in the office
- They made exaggerated and trumped-up charges against her
- The pregnancy announcement and the dismissal conversation were “more than a coincidence”
- There was no evidence of a financial downturn, in fact, another employee was given a pay rise
Judge Catherine Rayner awarded Ms Powell damages totalling £19,600, including £15,000 for injury to feelings.
Case study 2
In October 2021, Nikita Twitchen joined First Grade Projects, a building firm in Wales, as an administrative assistant.
Finding she was pregnant, she took maternity leave from June 2022.
In February 2023, Nikita met the managing director, Jeremy Morgan, to discuss her return to work.
Initially, the meeting started positively. She was told the business was doing well and that he looked forward to her return. They agreed the hours she would work when she was back in the office.
Towards the end of this discussion, she told Jeremy she was pregnant again.
Her maternity leave was due to end in March 2023, but her employer failed to contact her regarding her return to work.
In April 2023, Nikita was told her role was being made redundant due to financial difficulties and the installation of new software.
She took her employer to a tribunal claiming unfair dismissal and discrimination due to pregnancy.
She won her case because her employer:
- Failed to mention financial hardship, new software or redundancies in February’s meeting or subsequently
- Failed to provide a written explanation of her dismissal
The tribunal found the principal reason Nikita was dismissed was because she was pregnant, and awarded her £28,706.76.
What does the law say?
Pregnancy and maternity discrimination is when you are treated unfavourably because you are pregnant, breastfeeding or have given birth. The treatment could be a one-off action or as a result of a rule or policy. It doesn’t have to be intentional to be unlawful.
Some of these definitions may seem obvious, but in law, precision is important:
- Pregnancy is the condition of being pregnant or expecting a baby
- Maternity covers the period after you give birth, and is linked to maternity leave
- Compulsory maternity leave If you’re entitled to maternity leave, you must take two weeks off immediately after giving birth
- Ordinary maternity leave You are entitled to return to the same job during or at the end of 26 weeks (including the first two compulsory weeks)
- Additional maternity leave A further 26 weeks. If you return during or after this time, you must be offered a suitable alternative job if your employer can show it’s not reasonably practicable for you to return to the same job
- Protected period The Equality Act protects you from discrimination from when you announce your pregnancy until you return to work after maternity leave, or, if you don’t have the right to maternity leave, until two weeks after the child is born
Under the Equality Act, you must not be treated unfavourably during the protected period because:
- of your pregnancy
- you have given birth in the previous 26 weeks
- you are breast-feeding
- of illness suffered by you as a result of your pregnancy
- you have a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy
- you are on compulsory maternity leave
- you are exercising or seeking to exercise your right to ordinary or additional maternity leave
There is more to the Act than this, but this article gives you a brief idea.
What this means to you
We are employment lawyers based in Northern Ireland and England, who act for employees throughout the UK.
If you’re pregnant or on maternity leave, and you’ve been treated badly at work, please give us a call. The law is complex and every situation is different. We’ll advise whether you have a case, how much you might win, and what to do next.
Related reading
We have several clients who won pregnancy and maternity discrimination claims. You can read their stories here:
- Caroline R: Treated with hostility after announcing her pregnancy
- Laura M: Told she couldn’t do her job while pregnant
- Lorraine J: Dismissed because she was pregnant
For further information, you might like to read our related articles. These include:
- Pregnancy/maternity discrimination
- Pregnancy discrimination: My boss said something terrible
- I’ve suffered pregnancy discrimination. What can I do?
Need help?
We have already helped thousands of people to win millions of pounds in compensation.
You have a choice of ways to pay, including ‘no win, no fee’.