Discrimination at work because of pregnancy or maternity

If you want to take legal action about discrimination, you need to check if what happened is covered by the Equality Act 2010. This is the law that stops employers and the people you work with discriminating against you.

The Equality Act says it’s ‘pregnancy and maternity discrimination’ if you’re treated badly at work because:

• you are or were pregnant

• you’re taking maternity leave

• you have a pregnancy-related illness or medical condition while you’re pregnant or on maternity leave

If your employer treats you badly for breastfeeding at work, this isn’t pregnancy and maternity discrimination - it’s ‘direct sex discrimination’ instead. Check what to do if you’ve experienced sex discrimination.

Example

Emma is 5 months pregnant. She has already had one ultrasound appointment in work hours, and now has another one booked. 

Her boss says she can’t take the day off work for the appointment - it’ll be recorded as sick leave. Emma has already taken sick leave recently, so this means she’ll start a disciplinary process and might get fired.

Emma's employer is treating her badly because she's pregnant, so it's pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

Example

Seren has a baby and goes on maternity leave. While she’s on leave, her employer advertises a promotion opportunity to her team. He decides not to bother telling her about it. Somebody else gets the job, and Seren only finds out when she returns to work. 

Seren’s employer has treated her badly because she was on maternity leave, so this is pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

If you were treated badly outside of work

The law is different if the discrimination happened outside of work - for example if it was by someone who works on public transport or in a shop. 

Check if you’ve been discriminated against outside of work.

If you’re treated badly because you took, or tried to take, maternity leave

If your employer treats you badly because you're taking maternity leave, it's pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

The rules are a bit more complicated if your employer treats you badly because you either:

• took maternity leave in the past

• tried to take maternity leave - this includes if they refuse to let you take maternity leave

The rules depend on whether you're an ‘employee’ or a ‘worker’. You might be a worker if for example you work for an agency or you’re not guaranteed to get any work. If you're not sure, check your employment status.

If you’re an employee, it’s pregnancy and maternity discrimination if you’re treated badly because you took maternity leave, or tried to take it.

If you’re a worker

You’re only entitled to 2 weeks’ maternity leave, although you might take more leave. 

It’s only pregnancy and maternity discrimination if you’re treated badly during your 2 weeks of maternity leave.  If you’re treated badly because you tried to take leave or you took it in the past, it isn’t pregnancy and maternity discrimination. It might be a different type of discrimination called ‘sex discrimination’ instead. Check what to do if you’ve experienced sex discrimination.

If you’re treated badly because of a pregnancy-related illness or medical condition

Your illness or medical condition is 'pregnancy-related' if either:

• it was caused by your pregnancy

• you already had the illness or condition, but it got worse because of your pregnancy

The way your employer treats you might count as pregnancy and maternity discrimination. Your illness or condition must have started or got worse within a specific time period - this is called the ‘protected period’.

Your protected period begins when you get pregnant.

When your protected period ends depends on whether you're an ‘employee’ or a ‘worker’. You might be a worker if for example you work for an agency or you’re not guaranteed to get any work. If you're not sure, check your employment status.

If you’re an employee, your protected period ends when your maternity leave ends or when you return to work, whichever is earlier. 

If you’re a worker, your protected period ends two weeks after your child was born, or four weeks if you work in a factory.

If your illness or condition started after the protected period, the way your employer treats you might be a different type of discrimination called sex discrimination. Check if you've experienced sex discrimination and what you can do about it.

Example

Riley is two months pregnant. They usually go into an office to work every day, but some people on their team work at home. 

Riley has morning sickness so they ask their boss if they can work at home. This would let them work more flexibly when they feel sick. Their boss says no, he needs them to keep coming into the office. 

Morning sickness is a pregnancy-related illness, so Riley’s boss should allow their request when it’s reasonable. This is pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

Example

Ailish has a baby and takes maternity leave. During maternity leave, she gets postnatal depression and misses some appointments to keep in touch with her boss. 

When Ailish’s maternity leave ends she goes back to work, but her boss fires her from her job. He mentions her depression as a reason.

Postnatal depression is a pregnancy-related illness which Ailish had during the protected period, so her boss shouldn’t have dismissed her for this. It doesn’t matter that the dismissal itself happened after the protected period ended - this is pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

Check if your employer has a good reason to treat you differently

Your employer is allowed to treat you differently because you’re pregnant if either:

• they’re following health and safety law

• you do a job that requires you to not be pregnant - for example, if you’re visibly pregnant and you’re an actor playing a character who isn’t pregnant

It would be discrimination if your employer treated you badly because you’re pregnant and pretended it was for one of these reasons.

Example

Kainat’s job includes lifting and carrying heavy boxes in a warehouse. When she tells her employer that she’s pregnant, he does a health and safety risk assessment. He says she isn’t allowed to lift heavy things while she’s pregnant and gives her some administrative tasks to do instead. 

The employer was following the health and safety rules, so this isn’t pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

Example

Connie works for an agency as a cleaner. They have a zero-hours contract and work varied hours. When Connie tells their employer they’re pregnant, he says they have to stop doing their job.

Connie’s employer says there is a health and safety risk - but he decided this just before Connie worked enough hours to qualify for statutory maternity pay. He only said there was a risk so that he wouldn’t have to pay them. This is pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

If you had a miscarriage or stillbirth

It’s still pregnancy and maternity discrimination if you were treated badly either:

• because you were pregnant

• because of any illness or medical condition caused by the pregnancy or loss 

If you were pregnant for at least 24 weeks, you're protected until the end of your maternity leave. The law calls this a ‘stillbirth’.

If you were pregnant for less than 24 weeks, you're protected until 2 weeks after the loss. The law calls this a ‘miscarriage’.

Taking action about discrimination 

If you think you were discriminated against, you can decide what to do about discrimination at work.

It's also worth checking if your employer has gone against your other employment rights. You can:

• check your rights while you're pregnant at work

• check your rights while you're on maternity leave 

If your employer has gone against your other rights, make sure to include them when you make any complaint or claim for discrimination.

If you’re finding things difficult

Discrimination can have a big impact on your mental health. You should talk to your GP if you’re feeling depressed or anxious.

You can find other ways to get help with your mental health on the Mind website.

If you need to speak to someone 

You can speak to a trained volunteer at organisations like Samaritans or Shout.

Samaritans

Helpline: 116 123 (Monday to Sunday at any time)

Welsh Language Line: 0808 164 0123 (Monday to Sunday 7pm to 11pm)

Calls to Samaritans are free.

You can find other ways to get in touch with Samaritans on their website.

Shout

You can also text 'SHOUT' to 85258 to start a conversation with a trained Shout volunteer. Texts are free, anonymous and confidential from anywhere in the UK.