A woman from Northern Ireland has been awarded £25,000 by an employment tribunal after she suffered sex discrimination related to her pregnancy.
Ruth Faulkner had worked for Intern Europe Limited since June 2010. During her maternity leave she requested to work the same hours in a different pattern, to help her with her childcare commitments. Instead the company reduced her hours.
On the first day Ms. Faulkner returned to work after her maternity leave, she was immediately brought to a meeting where she was informed that her post was potentially at risk of redundancy. She alleged that she was told that the company wanted to discuss an option with her where she would choose to leave rather than go through a formal redundancy situation. Ms Faulkner claimed that she was informed that if she wanted to consider this option she could not return to her desk and had to leave the office right away.
Mrs Faulkner was assisted in her case by Northern Ireland’s Equality Commission, which reports that in 2017-18 it received 895 calls to its advice line about sex discrimination, which equates to 25% of all complaints of discrimination. Of these, the largest single cause of complaint was to do with pregnancy or maternity (193, 22% of all sex discrimination complaints).
“It is still too common for women who tell their employers they are pregnant to then feel they are treated in an unfair or discouraging way,” commented Mary Kitson from the Equality Commission. “Two years ago, our ‘Expecting Equality’ investigation found that over one third of the women interviewed felt they had been disadvantaged at work because of pregnancy or maternity leave. They cited effects on their finances, their career opportunities, their status at work and their health.”
If you feel your rights have been compromised then it is important to take legal advice as quickly as possible. Our pregnancy & maternity discrimination lawyers are experts in this field. Contact us today to find out how we can help you.
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