IVF

A woman dismissed for undergoing IVF treatment whose ova has been fertilised but not yet successfully implanted cannot rely on the laws against pregnancy or maternity discrimination because at that stage, she is not pregnant. Even so, the dismissal or other less favourable treatment of a woman for undergoing IVF treatment is likely to be sex discrimination.

Once the fertilised ova have been successfully implanted and a pregnancy has been achieved, the laws against pregnancy or maternity discrimination are triggered, just like any other pregnancy (Mayr v Bäckerei und Konditorei Gerhard Flöckner (C-506/06); Sahota v The Home Office and Pipkin [2009] UKEAT/0342/09).