Pregnancy and maternity leave discrimination: employment tribunal decisions

This article summarises the main issues and outcomes in five tribunal cases brought by pregnant employees or employees on maternity leave. Although the decisions are not binding on other tribunals, they provide useful illustrations for employers of situations that have led to pregnancy and maternity leave discrimination claims.

On this page:
Introduction
Employer's failure to implement individual risk assessment led to discrimination against pregnant employee
“Revised role” and failure to notify part-time employee of full-time vacancies did not breach employee’s maternity rights
Discrimination against employee who missed out on discretionary Christmas bonus while on maternity leave and was not allowed to return to work on reduced hours
Employer discriminated against pregnant employee in selecting her for redundancy
Purported redundancy dismissal was not on grounds of pregnancy but was nevertheless unfair

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Introduction

There are numerous statutory rights and obligations associated with pregnancy, childbirth and maternity leave.