Pregnancy and parental rights

Dismissing a woman because she is pregnant or on maternity leave, or for any reason connected with her pregnancy is automatically unfair (section 99 ERA 96). It is also likely to be unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 (see Chapter 6 page 157).

Employees undergoing IVF treatment whose ova have been fertilised but not yet implanted have less protection against unfair dismissal. Until the ova has implanted, their dismissal will not be for a pregnancy or maternity-related reason, although it may well be sex discrimination (see Chapter 6 - Discrimination). Union reps should note that the protection of intended surrogate parents and prospective adopters from unfair dismissal will be improved once new provisions in the Children and Families Act 2014 come into force. These are summarised on pages 243-245.

As long as part of the reason for dismissing a woman is to do with her pregnancy or maternity, it will be automatically unfair. It does not matter that there might be other reasons for the dismissal.

Dismissing employees for exercising maternity, parental, paternity or adoption leave rights is automatically unfair (see Chapter 8). For the law on pregnancy and maternity in the context of redundancy, see Chapter 11.