Pregnancy discrimination at work

Hello. I am Gemma, a friendly legal assistant at Lawyer Destroyer. First of all, congratulations on your pregnancy.

The short answer is that you cannot be treated poorly or put at a disadvantage just because you are pregnant. However, your employer actually has a legal duty to treat you differently in certain positive ways to keep you and your baby safe.

The legal position:

The law in England and Wales on this is found in the Equality Act 2010. Pregnancy and maternity are protected characteristics. This means it is against the law for your employer to treat you unfavourably from the moment your pregnancy begins until the end of your maternity leave.

Unfavourable treatment means things like being sacked, being overlooked for a promotion, having your hours or pay reduced against your will, or being treated poorly by your manager. Crucially, it also means you cannot be disciplined or given a poor attendance record for having time off due to a pregnancy-related illness.

Positive different treatment:

While your employer cannot treat you badly, they must treat you differently by making certain adjustments for you. Once you tell them in writing that you are pregnant, they should carry out a health and safety risk assessment.

If your normal job involves risks, such as heavy lifting, working with certain chemicals, or standing for very long periods, they must adjust your working conditions or hours. If they cannot do this, they must offer you suitable alternative work on the same terms. If there is no suitable alternative work, they must suspend you on full pay to keep you safe. You are also legally entitled to reasonable paid time off to attend your antenatal appointments, including travel time.

Practical next steps:

If you feel you are being treated unfairly or poorly because of your pregnancy, here is a sensible way to handle it.

1. Keep a diary of everything that happens. Write down dates, times, what was said, and the names of anyone who witnessed the unfair treatment. Save copies of any relevant emails or messages.

2. Have an informal chat. Sometimes employers genuinely do not realise they are getting the rules wrong. If you feel comfortable, speak to your manager or HR department. Explain how you are being treated and what you need them to change. Often, a quiet conversation is enough to sort things out.

3. Raise a formal grievance. If the informal chat does not work, or the treatment is very serious, you can write a formal complaint following your company grievance procedure. This forces your employer to hold a meeting, investigate the matter properly, and give you a formal written outcome.

4. Contact ACAS for early conciliation. If your grievance does not fix the problem, you can contact the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. ACAS is a free, independent government-backed body that will try to mediate an agreement between you and your employer to avoid a legal battle.

5. Consider an Employment Tribunal. If ACAS conciliation fails, you have the option of taking your employer to a tribunal for pregnancy discrimination. You need to be very careful with time limits here. You usually only have three months less one day from the date the discriminatory act happened to start the ACAS process, which is a mandatory step before going to a tribunal. Tribunals can be stressful and take many months, so it is usually best to try and resolve things through the earlier steps first if you can.

I hope this helps to clear things up and gives you peace of mind about your rights at work. Please let me know if you need help with anything else, such as what to put in a grievance letter.