Member Article

One in seven women lose job whilst pregnant

Women are suffering increasing levels of illegal discrimination when they become pregnant

According to a new poll, many women are often made redundant whilst on maternity leave. The figures show that one in seven of the women surveyed had lost their jobs while on maternity leave. Four out of ten said their jobs had changed by the time they had returned, with 50% reporting that they had suffered a reduction in hours or demotion. More than 10% had been replaced by the person who had been covering their maternity leave.

Last month a research company questioned 1,000 women. On returning to their jobs, almost a third of new mothers felt that they didn’t fit in any more and two in five felt that they lacked support, with almost 20% feeling no-one understood what it was like juggling work with new motherhood. Nearly one in ten said the stress affected their relationship with their partner. Only 3% had sought legal advice over maternity discrimination; 10% had sought help from their HR Department.

The Equal Opportunities Commission estimated that before the recession 30,000 women each year had lost their jobs as a consequence of being pregnant. Since that time the figures have increased dramatically.

Few cases go all the way to the Employment Tribunal but when they do they attract a great deal of publicity, like the case last month of Katie Tantum, a trainee Solicitor who accused a City law firm of sex discrimination, stating that they ‘just stopped bothering’ with her when they found out that she was pregnant. A judgement has yet to be delivered.

In such cases many companies are settling out of court because they do not wish to be seen as treating pregnant women in this way. The distressing part of this is that these major organisations are accompanying the settlement figures with unfortunately the proviso of - ‘a confidentiality clause’.

To avoid this publish and operate a Maternity Policy

A well written Maternity Policy, clearly understood by all concerned, describing the procedures to be followed should be the first step in ensuring that your company does not fall into the category of ‘an uncaring employer’ having to sign cheques together with confidentiality clauses to avoid the embarrassment of being seen to treat pregnant women in such a shoddy manner. It also makes good business sense.

Policy and procedure on arranging maternity leave cover

Use this policy to inform employees about maternity leave cover, including handover and return to work.

Policy on being reintroduced into the workplace on return from maternity leave

Use this policy to inform employees about arrangements for returning to work after maternity leave.

Family friendly policies

Use these policies to outline the company’s approach to family-friendly working.

If you or your organisation require any of the aforementioned documents, please go to my profile for contact details and I will oblige with free downloads.

I would appreciate your observations so, please feel free to comment below.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Andrew Dane .