Member Article

Employers often find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place when trying to manage employees who are pregnant. If the employer gets it wrong, he faces the potential for claims of sex discrimination and the possibility of a finding of automatic unfair dismissal. This can not only tarnish his reputation but hit him hard in the pocket too. Due to the requirements of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (as amended) where the pregnant employee proves facts from which the tribunal could conclude in the absence of an adequate explanation that sex discrimination had taken place, the employment tribunal will uphold the complaint unless the employer can provide solid evidence that he did not commit the act in question.