What are your employment rights during pregnancy? Find out here!

Are you pregnant? Do you know your rights?

According to the office of national statistics, there were 591,072 live births in England and Wales in 2023. Coincidentally, this was the lowest number of births since 1977 but it’s still a huge number all the same! This is why it’s so important to know exactly what employment rights you may have if you’re embarking on one of the exciting and important chapters of your life.

According to the Equality Act 2010, s. 18 states:

2) A person (A) discriminates against a woman if, in the protected period in relation to a pregnancy of hers, A treats her unfavourably — (a) because of the pregnancy, or (b) because of illness suffered by her as a result of it.

Therefore, an employer cannot discriminate against a pregnant worker because of their pregnancy or any illness resulting from it. It is clear from the above that pregnancy and maternity is a ‘protected characteristic’ under section 18. It is also important to note that pregnancy is a unique protected characteristic in that the law does not require a comparator top demonstrate discrimination. In other words, to show pregnancy/maternity related discrimination, you do not need to compare yourself to a man or a woman who is not pregnant. This is different to other protected characteristics such as race or religion where the law requires a comparator. It is also important to note that all employees are protected against pregnancy and maternity related discrimination from the first day of being in the job.

The above statute refers to a ‘protected period’ as well which is generally defined as the point from which a person becomes pregnant until either their maternity leave ends, they return to work or they leave their job. It is important to remember that statutory maternity leave is 52 weeks. It consists of (1) ordinary maternity leave which accounts for the first 26 weeks and (2) additional maternity leave which accounts for the last 26 weeks. Of course, not all 52 weeks have to be taken but you must take 2 weeks’ leave after the baby is born (or 4 weeks if you work in a factory).

According to the Employment Rights Act 1996, s. 99 states:

(1) An employee who is dismissed shall be regarded for the purposes of this Part as unfairly dismissed if—

(a) the reason or principal reason for the dismissal is of a prescribed kind, or

(b) the dismissal takes place in prescribed circumstances.

(2) In this section “ prescribed ” means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State.

(3) A reason or set of circumstances prescribed under this section must relate to—

(a) pregnancy, childbirth or maternity,

In essence, the above means that individuals are also protected against unfair dismissal if the reason that they are dismissed results from their pregnancy, childbirth or maternity leave. This protection also applies from the first day that you are in the job. There is a number of ways in which pregnant employees can be discriminated against or unfairly dismissed. A few of the below are prime examples:

making someone to work whilst they are on maternity leave
dismissing someone or not renewing their employment contract because they are pregnant
refusing to provide training to someone or promoting someone because they are pregnant
not allowing someone to work because they are breastfeeding

As you can see there is a number of legal protections afforded to people who are pregnant, suffering from a pregnancy related illness or who are currently on maternity leave. If you think you may have a claim of either pregnancy/maternity related discrimination or unfair dismissal then please feel free to get in touch with our dispute resolution team here at Austin and Carnley Solicitors who should be able to help.

Written by Haider Maqsood (Trainee Solicitor)