Calls for Government to adopt German model of redundancy protection for pregnant employees

discrimination, maternity leave, pregnancy, redundancy

Baby Toy There has been a sizable amount of space afforded to pregnancy-related discrimination in the media this past year. In fact, that’s one of the reasons for this series of pregnancy-related blogs. As such, it is becoming increasingly difficult for employers to escape accusations of pregnancy-related discrimination when it arises. This being said, there are charitable organisations out there that believe that more needs to be done: one of these charities is Maternity Action.

During the past week, Maternity Action have released a report (named “Unfair Redundancies”) calling on the Government to strengthen anti-redundancy protection for pregnancy employees. The most eye-catching statistics quoted by the charity include that 1 in every twenty mothers are made redundant during their pregnancy, maternity leave or return to work and that 77% of pregnant women felt discriminated against during their period of pregnancy.

Before we continue, let’s just dial down into that first statistic for a moment.

What is a reasonable period to ‘lay off’ your employees?

contracts of employment, Employment Appeal Tribunal, employment law, lay off, lay off, procedure, redundancy, short-time working

One of the most important and often useful clauses within a contract of employment for employers in any trade is the ‘lay off/short-time working clause’. For those that are not aware, such a clause would usually entitle an employer who suffers a downturn in the work available, to either reduce the hours of the affected…

Exclusion from voluntary redundancy of director aged over 50 was discriminatory

age discrimination, discrimination issues, pensions, procedure, redundancy

Mr Donkor was born in 1960 and started his employment with the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1978. He worked through the ranks and, from 2003, was employed as a regional director in retail banking. In 2012 there was a bank restructure which effectively meant that all existing regional directors would have to go through…

big payouts

holiday pay, redundancy

In November 2014 I warned that employers should get ready for backdated holiday claims, particularly from those who are now entitled to include average overtime when calculating the rate payable. The Government’s response was to attempt to limit the effect on employers by introducing the Deductions from Wages (Limitation) Regulations 2014. The Regulations are intended…

is it discriminatory not to offer a suitable vacancy to a woman selected for redundancy while on maternity leave?

discrimination, discrimination issues, maternity leave, redundancy

The case of Wainwright v Sefton Borough Council was initially heard by Employment Judge Robinson in the Employment Tribunals in Liverpool in September 2013. His judgment was that Mrs Wainwight’s claims of automatic unfair dismissal, breach of regulation 10 of the Maternity and Paternal Leave Regulations 1999 (right to be offered suitable alternative jobs) and…