30,000 women every year lose their jobs as a result of becoming pregnant... This is illegal discrimination. It is against the law for an employee to be dismissed or given worse working conditions because they are pregnant or on maternity leave. A group of organisations has formed an alliance to call on the Government to publicly state its commitment to preventing pregnancy discrimination at work during the recession and to reassert that making a woman redundant because she is pregnant, on, or returning from maternity leave is illegal and will not be tolerated.
Campaigning groups Maternity Action and Working Families together with law firm Leigh Day & Co (the Alliance) have noted an increase in the number of calls they are receiving from pregnant women, or women on maternity leave who have been identified for redundancy in the recession. Even before the recession it had been estimated that 30,000 women lose their jobs each year because of pregnancy or maternity discrimination. They are calling on the Government to ensure that the right to equal treatment remains a central plank of employment law, whatever the economic situation.
The employment discrimination team at solicitors Leigh Day, a member of the Alliance, is encouraging pregnant women, or women who are on maternity leave and have been made redundant, to contact them for 10 minutes' free advice. Visit their website for more information.
Maternity Action is a newly established, national charity working to end inequality and promote the health and well-being of all pregnant women, their partners and children from before conception through to the child's early years. Maternity Action has been made aware that the new Equality Bill may actually weaken the protection for pregnant women in the workplace, and so are lobbying to get this put right.To support this cause, please click here to sign a petition
For more information about pregnancy discrimination, including advice about your rights, where to find support, and how to take action, click here.
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