Key Employment Rights Afforded To Women On Maternity Leave

Published date09 March 2021
Subject MatterEmployment and HR, Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Unfair/ Wrongful Dismissal, Redundancy/Layoff
Law FirmBrahams Dutt Badrick French LLP
AuthorMs Emily Plosker

In celebration of International Women's Day, Senior Associate, Emily Plosker examines one of the key employment rights afforded to women on maternity leave and looks at proposals to improve the position of pregnant women and new mothers in the workplace.

In our practice we often hear women start their stories with "when I announced my pregnancy, I noticed..." or "when I returned from maternity leave..." or worse "I am on maternity leave and my role is being made redundant".

In March 2016, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Equality and Human Rights Commission report into pregnancy and maternity discrimination certainly painted a bleak picture for women in the workplace. The report found that one in nine mothers reported being subjected to such poor treatment that they felt they had to leave their jobs, being singled out for redundancy or just being dismissed where other colleagues were not. The survey research suggests that the redundancy rate among mothers at some point during pregnancy, maternity leave or on return from maternity leave is considerably greater than the redundancy rate among female employees as a whole. When one scales up these findings and applies them to the UK, it could mean as many as 54,000 mothers are subjected to potentially discriminatory treatment at work each year. What is more depressing is that only 1% of victims take legal action. The survey research suggests that redundancy rate among mothers at some point during pregnancy, maternity leave or on return from maternity leave is considerably greater than the redundancy rate among female employees as a whole with 11% saying they felt forced to leave their job.

These stark statistics have only been exacerbated by the pandemic, where numerous pieces of research demonstrate the disproportionate impact it has had on women in the workplace across a variety of areas (for example a disproportionate number of women have been placed on furlough, made redundant and/or have had to reduce hours or take unpaid parental leave due to childcare commitments, which will impact the gender pay gap in years to come).

Announcing your pregnancy and preparing to go on maternity leave can be daunting experiences, particularly if your workplace has a bad track record in its treatment of working parents. It is for this reason that there is protective legislation in place for pregnant women and those on maternity leave to make sure that their jobs are secure on return to work.

The...

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