A new analysis by Citizens Advice (CA), ‘Sharp practice at work: maternity rights’, reveals a significant increase in people seeking advice from CA about problems with pregnancy discrimination and maternity leave. CA defines sharp practice as occurring when people are treated unfairly at work. The CA analysis reveals that it has seen a 100% increase in visits to its pregnancy discrimination advice pages on its website in the last year and a 58% increase in the number of maternity leave issues being brought to it for face-to-face help in the past two years.
CA highlight that sharp practice around pregnancy can affect people in different ways and the four most common reported problems in the past 18 months have been: being made redundant, having hours reduced, having roles changed upon return to work and lacking health and safety protections. CA set out ways in which maternity problems can be tackled, including improved access to Employment Tribunals by reducing fees and promoting better awareness of maternity rights among employers and workers.
A week after CA published its analysis, the Women and Equalities Committee has just published its report on pregnancy and maternity discrimination which calls for UK women to be better protected after a ‘shocking’ increase in workplace discrimination over the past decade. A summary will appear in next week’s update.
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This provides summary information and comment on the subject areas covered. Where employment tribunal and appellate court cases are reported, the information does not set out all of the facts, the legal arguments presented and the judgments made in every aspect of the case. Employment law is subject to constant change either by statute or by interpretation by the courts. While every care has been taken in compiling this information, we cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. Specialist legal advice must be taken on any legal issues that may arise before embarking upon any formal course of action.
