For example, you must not be treated unfavourably for:

• temporarily being unable to do your job because of pregnancy
• being unable to work as it would breach health and safety regulations
• bringing additional cost to the business
• absences due to pregnancy related illness
• not being able to attend a disciplinary hearing due to sickness or other pregnancy-related conditions
• having performance issues due to pregnancy-related conditions

Examples of pregnancy and maternity discrimination include dismissal, removal of responsibilities or seniority, a failure to offer a pay rise when you would have had one if you had been in work, or the refusal to offer you a job, to promote you or offer training because you are pregnant or have been on maternity leave.

Examples of unfavourable treatment include:

• demoting you
• not considering you for promotion
• refusing you a pay rise or bonus
• dismissing you
• refusing to recruit you
• excluding you
• refusing to protect your health and safety where there are risks
• denying you training or promotion opportunities
• not permitting you to attend antenatal appointments
• changing or removing your job responsibilities (unless it is necessary for health and safety, you agree or it is to arrange maternity cover)

These are further examples of discrimination from the EHRC Code of Practice:

• failure to consult a woman on maternity leave about changes to her work or
  about possible redundancy;
• disciplining a woman for refusing to carry out tasks due to pregnancy
  related risks;
• assuming that a woman’s work will become less important to her after
  childbirth and giving her less responsible or less interesting work as a
  result;
• depriving a woman of her right to an annual assessment of her
  performance because she was on maternity leave;
• excluding a pregnant woman from business trips.

Unlike other types of discrimination, you do not have to compare your situation to someone else. It is enough to show that you have been treated unfavourably.

This depends on how much maternity leave you have taken. There are different rules for the first 26 weeks of maternity leave (OML) and the second 26 weeks (AML). For more information on your rights when you to return to work, see our article on: What happens when I return to work at the end of my maternity leave?

It is unlawful for your employer to treat you unfavourably because you are breastfeeding. Depending on the circumstances, this can be pregnancy, maternity or sex discrimination.

You are also entitled to protection from health and safety risks if you are breastfeeding on return to work. You should notify your employer in writing that you are breastfeeding and your employer should take reasonable action to remove any health and safety risks.

For more information, see our article on returning to work while breastfeeding.

Agency workers have some of the same rights as other workers, such as the right not to be discriminated against because of pregnancy. You should not be treated unfavourably, or refused work, because you are pregnant or you have tried to assert one of your legal rights, such as Statutory Maternity Pay. Examples of discrimination could include:

• Your agency refuses to place you in a job because you are preganant
• The hirer refuses to hire you because you are pregnant
• ending your job prematurely because you are pregnant (unless there are genuine health and safety concerns)
• Only offering short term placements to pregnant women while offering longer contracts to other agency workers

It may also be discrimination to refuse to take you back into the job you were doing before, this will depend on the facts but is more likely to apply if you had been working for the same organisation for many years,

Both the agency you work for and the company where you are working with are under a duty not to discriminate against you. However, in order to be able to claim discrimination, you will have to tell your recruitment agency and the company you are working for about your pregnancy.

See our section on agency workers for further information.

Under the Equality Act, the right not to suffer discrimination because of pregnancy or maternity includes self-employed ‘workers’ if you have a contract to personally to carry out work. This is likely to include freelancers. The right not to suffer discrimination because of a pregnancy or maternity applies from day one.
If you are not offered work or if your contract is terminated because you are pregnant or have taken time off to have a child, you may have a pregnancy or maternity discrimination claim.

If you are unsure, contact us for advice.

Speak to your employer in the first instance and try to resolve things informally. Try to keep communications friendly if you can. It can sometimes be more effective if you focus on solutions and the way forward, rather than the things you are unhappy about. It could be that your employer is not aware of the rules that apply, this is often the case with smaller employers and so you may want to explain what you understand your rights are and ask for their support in resolving the problem.

Often, employers can become defensive if accused of discrimination, but you can say what has happened and why you think you are being treated unfairly because of your pregnancy or maternity leave. 

If the discussions with your employer don’t resolve the issue, or you think your employer has treated you very unfairly and the relationship is breaking down, you can consider raising a grievance.  You can find more information in our article on Grievances.

Raising a grievance is important if you think you might later raise a claim in the Employment Tribunal because failure to follow internal resolution methods can disadvantage your claim. 

It is advisable to try and resolve things amicably first where possible, as formal processes can damage your relationship with your employer. For some legal insight into grievances and tips on how to engage with your employer before it reaches this point, see our article on Grievances do more harm than good.

Your employer should not ignore your grievance, fail to hear it within a reasonable time or reject it out of hand (as doing so could amount to a breach of your employment contract). However, your employer is not obliged to uphold your complaint.

If you are unhappy with the outcome of your grievance, you should normally be able to appeal it; the procedure will be set out in your employer’s grievance policy. If you are unhappy with the outcome of the appeal process, you can contact us for advice.

If the above steps do not resolve the matter you may decide to bring a claim in the employment tribunal. You should seek further advice on your situation if you intend to bring a claim. It is important to understand what you are claiming for, and what you may be able to recover in compensation if you are successful in your claim i.e. what financial loss you have suffered as a result of the treatment to help decide whether to take this step.

Proving discrimination claims can be difficult: the discrimination is rarely made explicit. Most employers will not actually say: ‘The reason why I’m dismissing you is because you’re pregnant’. So it is necessary to produce evidence to prove the real reason for the unfavourable treatment so that the Tribunal can infer from the facts what really happened.

The Tribunal will follow a two stage ‘burden of proof’ test. Firstly, they decide whether you have provided sufficient proof that an act of unlawful discrimination has taken place. Then, the burden of proof will shift to your employer to provide a non-discriminatory explanation for their actions.

See our section on starting a claim for further information and beware of time limits. You must contact ACAS to start early conciliation within three months less a day of the act of discrimination, or within three months of your termination date for unfair dismissal.

Tribunal claims can be expensive and long, and there is no guarantee of success, so this step should be considered cautiously. It is often best to try to resolve the issue with your employer.

If you are considering bringing a claim, you can contact us for advice.

If your employer does not know that you are pregnant you cannot be a victim of pregnancy discrimination. 

However, if your employer knows, believes or suspects that you are pregnant, even if that is through rumour, they could be treating you unfavourably because of your pregnancy or an illness suffered as a result of your pregnancy.

No.  If you are refused a job because you are pregnant this would be pregnancy discrimination.

It is likely that only pregnant women can claim pregnancy or maternity discrimination.  However, your partner may have a claim for direct sex discrimination, pregnancy or maternity discrimination by association or unfair dismissal.

Yes. Pregnant employees (and agency workers who have met certain service requirements) have a statutory right to paid time off during working hours for the purposes of receiving antenatal care, regardless of hours worked or length of service.

Your employer may request proof of appointment which you must provide, although they cannot ask for proof of your first appointment.

Failure to allow time off for antenatal appointments may be pregnancy and maternity discrimination. See our section on time off for antenatal appointments for more information.

Employers are obliged to assess health and safety risks to which their employees might be exposed to while at work. If they employ women of child-bearing age and the type of work could involve a risk to the health and safety of a new or expectant mother or her baby, they must include a specific assessment of those risks in the overall assessment.

You should tell your employer that you are pregnant or breastfeeding and, if there is any evidence of a risk to you or your baby, an individual risk assessment should be carried out. If a risk is revealed, your employer must do all that is reasonable to remove or prevent it. If your employer cannot resolve the risk they must look for suitable alternative employment for you, at the same pay and conditions.  If there is no way you can work safely, you are entitled to be suspended on full pay.

Failure to undertake a risk assessment or act on findings may constitute pregnancy and maternity discrimination.  See our sections on health and safety rights for pregnant women and for new and breastfeeding mothers.

Your employer can dismiss you during pregnancy or maternity leave but your employer must be able to show it was for a fair reason (unconnected with your pregnancy) and follow a fair procedure. The dismissal must not in any way be related to your pregnancy or maternity leave. A dismissal because of pregnancy, pregnancy-related sickness, birth or maternity leave is an automatic unfair dismissal and discrimination.

A woman’s pregnancy or maternity leave does not have to be the only reason
for her treatment or dismissal, but it does have to be an important factor or effective
cause. The example from Chapter 8 of the EHRC code of practice is:

“An employer dismisses an employee on maternity leave shortly before she
is due to return to work because the locum covering her absence is regarded
as a better performer. Had the employee not been absent on maternity leave
she would not have been sacked. Her dismissal is therefore unlawful, even if
performance was a factor in the employer’s decision-making.”

If you are dismissed while pregnant (or on maternity leave) you must be given written reasons for the dismissal whether or not you ask for it and regardless of your length of service. You are entitled to be paid for any outstanding holiday pay that has accrued during your maternity leave up to the end of your notice period.  You should seek advice if you are dismissed while pregnant or on maternity leave.

See our section on dismissal during pregnancy, maternity leave or soon after for more information.

The short answer is yes.  However, women who are pregnant, on maternity leave or recently returned from maternity leave have special rights including priority for any suitable alternative vacancy in a redundancy situation.

The redundancy selection criteria your employer uses must not take into account reasons connected to pregnancy (including pregnancy-related illness) or maternity leave e.g. if attendance is a criteria or punctuality this may be discriminatory if you have been late due to morning sickness.

If you believe you have been selected for redundancy because you are pregnant or have a pregnancy-related illness or have been on maternity leave, you may have a claim for pregnancy and maternity discrimination and should seek advice.

See our section on redundancy while on or shortly after maternity leave for more information.

Your employer may make “reasonable contact” from time to time during your maternity leave. This contact may be used, for example, to enable you to discuss arrangements for your return to work or to keep you informed of important developments at work including training or promotion opportunities.

What is reasonable will depend on the circumstances, including your views on how you would like to be contacted and when.

If you feel your employer is making an unreasonable amount of contact during maternity leave, or requesting that you work during maternity leave, we recommend that you tell your employer and try to agree on an amount of contact that you find more reasonable.

You can also propose what work you would be willing to do on a ‘Keeping in Touch’ (KIT) basis.

It is good practice for your employer to keep you updated while you are on maternity leave. If you feel your employer is not making reasonable contact during maternity leave and you are treated unfavourably because of this (for instance, your employer is not keeping you aware of promotion opportunities), you may have a claim for pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

You should be informed of any promotion opportunities or vacancies which arise during maternity leave. In a case called Visa International Service Association PLC v Paul, an employee was successful in her claim that her employer had discriminated against her on grounds of pregnancy and maternity because she was on maternity leave when they failed to inform her of a vacancy that she would have applied for.

It is a good idea to talk to your employer in advance about how much contact you would like to have with them during your maternity leave and how they should contact you, for example your personal email address or by phone.

If your employer does not award you a pay rise that you would have received because you are on maternity leave, this may be pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

A woman on maternity leave should receive a pay rise like any other worker. To deny an increase to a woman on maternity leave would discriminate against her if, had she not been pregnant or on maternity leave, she would have received the pay rise.

For more on the effect of pay rises on maternity pay, see our article on rights during maternity leave.