Laying out your claim
When you are claiming direct pregnancy and maternity discrimination at Tribunal, you want to clearly argue that you have been treated unfairly because of your pregnancy or because of taking maternity leave. There are various specific rights that apply to pregnancy and maternity discrimination - see Chapter 8 of the Employment Statutory Code of Practice for more information. Some examples of direct pregnancy and maternity discrimination are as follows:
- An employer denies a pregnant woman training opportunities.
- An employer demotes an employee because she is on maternity leave.
- An employer takes into account an employee’s period of absence due to pregnancy-related illness when dismissing her on the grounds of her sickness absence. (Section 18 of the Equality Act 2010 expressly prohibits unfavourable treatment because of illness suffered by a woman because of her pregnancy).
With direct pregnancy and maternity discrimination, your employer can be liable for the acts of its employees, as well as the employees being personally responsible.
Proving your claim
You don’t need to attach evidence to a Tribunal ET1 claim, but it’s a good idea to back up your claims by mentioning the evidence you intend to use. For direct pregnancy and maternity discrimination claims, people typically refer to evidence such as text messages, emails, letters, meeting notes, medical evidence and witness evidence.
What you can ask for in your direct pregnancy and maternity discrimination claim
If you’re successful in a Tribunal claim, you will be awarded a “remedy”. This mainly includes financial compensation, like loss of earnings. It can also include some non-financial remedies too.
Common remedies people ask for at Tribunal
Some of the key remedies you can ask for at Tribunal are:
- The money you have lost from being out of work, or working in a lower-paid job.
- The money that you expect to lose in the future from being out of work, or working in a lower-paid job.
- Wages that you are owed, including holiday pay and notice pay.
Discrimination-specific remedies
As well as the common remedies that you can ask for, discrimination-specific claims also have the option to include an “injury to feelings” remedy. This is compensation which you can be awarded when you have been hurt or distressed because you have been discriminated against.
Injury to feelings is generally awarded within one of three “Vento bands” depending on severity.
For example, whilst Jamila was on maternity leave, she asked her employer if she might be able to return to work doing only 1.5 or 2 days a week to begin with. Her employer assumed that this meant she wouldn’t be able to work full time, but didn’t properly discuss with her the difficulties for the business of having a part-time worker. Nor did they give her the chance to offer alternative options. At no point did Jamila say she would never be able to return to full-time work, but her employer just assumed this was the case, and dismissed her whilst she was on maternity leave. She was successful in a claim for direct maternity discrimination, as well as claims for automatic unfair dismissal and unpaid holiday pay. She was awarded £12,000 for injury to feelings.
Real direct pregnancy and maternity discrimination cases you can learn from
Summary: a digital content strategist informed her boss that she was pregnant. He reacted negatively and from then on, changed his behaviour towards her. Ultimately, she was dismissed - her employer said this was because of serious concerns about her performance, which they said amounted to gross misconduct.
Total award: £25,131.06
Outcome: the Tribunal found that her dismissal amounted to direct pregnancy and maternity discrimination. They also found that a number of the employer's actions leading up to her dismissal and her appeal against it also amounted to direct pregnancy and maternity discrimination. Her claim for automatic unfair dismissal was also successful.
Total award: £10,826.24
Outcome: The Tribunal found that this was direct pregnancy and maternity discrimination. She had also made a claim for automatic unfair dismissal, but the Tribunal just considered the discrimination claim, as this related to the same issue (of dismissal).