Pregnancy discrimination widespread
Around 30,000 women a year are sacked, made redundant or forced to leave their jobs simply because they become pregnant, according to new research from the Equal Opportunities Commission.
And, the EOC claims that of the 441,000 working women who become pregnant each year, nearly half (45 per cent) experience some discrimination because of their pregnancy.
A fifth said they had lost out financially through denial of promotion, denial of pay rises or training opportunities and being left out of key decisions.
Chair of the EOC, Julie Mellor, said: “Our findings make for shocking reading. Women should not be penalised simply for being pregnant. The impact on women, their partners and families, and on the health of their baby can be disastrous.
“Although some employers knowingly flout the law, many businesses do face genuine challenges in managing pregnancy and simply don’t know what their responsibilities are or what help is available to them. We need urgent action from the Government to provide more information and support for pregnant employees and their employers.”
The EOC is calling on the Government to provide a written statement of maternity rights and employer responsibilities to each pregnant woman, with a copy for their employer.
It also suggests that employers should gain the right to request employees indicate their planned return date from maternity leave.
Liberal Democrat spokesperson for children, Annette Brooke, said: “It is disgraceful that in the 21st Century, women who are pregnant experience any kind of discrimination in the workplace.”
She said that small- and medium-sized businesses should be given more information and bureaucracy should be cut.
GMB deputy general decretary Debbie Coulter said that the figures were only a “fraction of the story” and called for more to be done “to change employers’ and colleagues’ attitudes to pregnancy in the workplace. It is too often viewed as an expensive inconvenience, as is maternity leave.
“If women fall out of the workforce when they have children this impacts not only on their finances and pensions, but businesses lose out on experienced staff and have the cost of recruiting and training replacements.”
But the Forum of Private Business stressed that pregnancy was often a big problem for small firms. Its spokesman said: “At the moment employers are banned from asking mothers when they intend to return to work, which is absolutely ludicrous for small firms.
“The uncertainty this causes is hellishly difficult. Small firms need to know when the employee is returning to work so they can plan for it and organise the replacement staff accordingly.”
