Over the Christmas break an employee has won £15,000 in compensation from her former employer after being dismissed immediately after informing her boss that she was pregnant.
The Claimant had only been in her role for a few weeks working as an administrative assistant and earning £20,000 per year. After joining there was an issue with her employment contract which meant that she had not signed it at the point she informed her employer that she was pregnant. Upon hearing that she was pregnant her employer argued that ‘we have no obligation to keep you on’ because she had not signed her employment contract. The employer sought to argue that the dismissal was because she refused to sign the contract and because of concerns about her work performance.
The Tribunal rejected this argument and concluded that the claims of pregnancy discrimination were well founded. The employer had used the contractual dispute as a pretext for dismissing the Claimant because of her pregnancy.
This case highlights the protections available to employees once they fall pregnant. Although it is not impossible to dismiss a pregnant employee, if the employer cannot show significant grounds for the dismissal which are not related to her pregnancy in any way then they run a significant risk of a successful claim being brought against them.
If any of your staff are pregnant and you have queries relating to their rights please contact our specialist Employment Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.