Topics

Pregnancy and maternity discrimination

New and updated

  • Date:
    23 July 2004
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Pregnancy discrimination: Annual and maternity leave mutually exclusive

    In Merino Gomez v Continental Industrias del Caucho SA, the European Court of Justice holds that pregnant workers have a dual entitlement to annual leave and maternity leave: pregnant workers must be able to take their annual leave during a period other than their period of maternity leave.

  • Date:
    20 February 2004
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Constructive dismissal: Failure to notify pregnant employee of job opportunity was repudiatory breach

    In Visa International Service Association v Paul the EAT holds that an employment tribunal was correct to find that an employee was constructively dismissed when her employer failed to notify her, while she was on maternity leave, of a newly created post arising out of a reorganisation in her department in which the employee was interested, and considered herself well qualified for.

  • Date:
    21 February 2003
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Sex discrimination: Failure to carry out risk assessment for pregnant woman is discrimination

    In Hardman v Mallon, t/a Orchard Lodge Nursing Home, the EAT holds that a failure to carry out a risk assessment in respect of a pregnant employee as required by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 amounts to unlawful sex discrimination. This is because carrying out a risk assessment is one of the ways in which a woman's biological condition during and after pregnancy is given special protection.

  • Date:
    1 December 2002
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Case round up in brief

    This month's case round up in brief.

  • Type:
    FAQs

    Can an employer reject a job applicant on grounds related to their pregnancy, such as health and safety?

  • Date:
    1 August 1999
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Sex discrimination: Pregnant employee discriminated against in redundancy selection

    In McGuigan v TG Baynes & Sons, the EAT holds that an employee suffered unlawful direct sex discrimination when her employer failed to consult her over her impending redundancy on the ground, among others, that she was absent on maternity leave - a pregnancy-related reason.

  • Date:
    1 June 1999
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Failure to assess risks may cause sex discrimination

    In Day v T Pickles Farms Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) says that an employer should not wait for written notification of an employee's pregnancy before carrying out a risk assessment, and that its failure to carry out an assessment may have caused the employee detriment within the provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.

  • Date:
    15 March 1999
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Sex discrimination: Failure to carry out risk assessment could have amounted to detriment

    In Day v T Pickles Farms Ltd, the EAT holds that an employer who failed to make an assessment of the risks to the health and safety of a woman of child-bearing age employed in a sandwich shop no later than the date she started working there, and certainly before she became pregnant, could thereby have subjected her to a "detriment" within the meaning of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975.

  • Date:
    1 January 1999
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Maternity rights: Return or repayment provision compatible with EC law

    A contractual term which requires a woman to undertake to return to work on the expiry of her maternity leave or otherwise to repay any amounts paid to her by her employer over and above statutory maternity pay during that period, does not contravene the equal pay principle contained in Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome and the Equal Pay Directive, rules the European Court of Justice in Boyle and others v Equal Opportunities Commission.

  • Date:
    1 January 1999
    Type:
    Employment law cases

    Maternity rights: Less favourable treatment in pay prior to maternity leave prohibited

    In Handels- og Kontorfunktionaerernes Forbund i Danmark (acting on behalf of Pedersen) v Faellesforeningen for Danmarks Brugsforeninger (acting on behalf of Kvickly Skive), the European Court of Justice rules that certain provisions of Danish law which permit the less favourable treatment in terms of pay of pregnant workers who are incapable of work due to a pregnancy-related illness prior to the commencement of their maternity leave contravene Article 119 and the Equal Pay Directive.