IVF

A woman dismissed for undergoing IVF treatment cannot claim pregnancy or maternity discrimination until the ovum has been successfully implanted, achieving a pregnancy. However, dismissal or other negative treatment of a woman for undergoing IVF treatment is likely to be sex discrimination if a man (real or hypothetical) taking a similar amount of time off would have been treated more favourably.

Once the fertilised ovum has been successfully implanted in the womb, the laws against pregnancy and maternity discrimination come into play 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).