Pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the workplace is on the rise

Throughout March 2025, we are running our Mind The Bump campaign to stamp out pregnancy and maternity discrimination. We first ran this campaign in 2005, shortly after Martin Searle Solicitors was founded.

Regrettably, twenty years later pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the workplace remains a serious issue. Last month, research from the campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, estimated that 74,000 women a year are potentially fired or made redundant while pregnant or on maternity leave, up 37% from the equivalent figure in 2016. Their study also found that almost 50% of women had a negative experience at work over the course of their pregnancy, maternity leave, and return to work.

This is disappointing, particularly as new legislation was introduced in April 2024 to provide increased protection from redundancy to pregnant employees and those returning from maternity leave. This protection now applies from the moment an employer is notified of pregnancy, and ends 18 months after childbirth. Although it does not prevent selection for redundancy, in circumstances where there is suitable alternative employment, women in their protected period have priority over others for these jobs.

This new legislation is welcome but the truth is many employers remain unaware of their duties to their staff who are pregnant and on maternity leave. Our Employment Law team continue to act for a large number of clients who are discriminated against because they are pregnant or have been on maternity leave.

Typical claims include a case involving a woman who was not offered the same 40 hour contract that all her colleagues had been given while she was on maternity leave. When she discovered this and raised a complaint, her employer launched a disciplinary investigation. We helped her to raise a grievance that she had been discriminated against because she was on maternity leave and victimised as her employer then attempted to make her redundant when she grieved. We were able to negotiate a substantial settlement, including a sum for injury to feelings, for her to leave as unsurprisingly she no longer wanted to work for this company.

Another common example of maternity discrimination concerned a client who was told that she was being made redundant two days before she was due to return to work after taking maternity leave. Her employer had not consulted with her about the downtown in work nor had they offered her any suitable alternative employment which was available. We were able to obtain a substantial settlement payment that was six times what the company originally offered in a Settlement Agreement and in excess of £40k compensation.

These cases illustrate why it is important for employers to know about their legal duties around pregnancy and maternity rights at work as well as employees knowing their rights. Dealing with discriminatory behaviour is not only devastating for the employees who should be spending time with their new baby rather than worrying about their job. But it is also incredibly damaging for the companies involved, both financially and reputationally.

On Thursday 24 April, Laura Donnelly, Associate Employment Solicitor, is running a free Q&A for Brighton Chamber on staying up to date with pregnancy and maternity discrimination. For more information and to book your place, click here.

Our annual campaign coincides with International Women’s Day which took place on 8 March, and which this year is campaigning to #AccelerateAction

As the main reason women find it difficult to “break the glass ceiling” is due to pregnancy and maternity discrimination, action certainly does need to be accelerated to end this type of discrimination.

Fiona Martin is Director and Head of Employment Law at Martin Searle Solicitors. Find out more on their website here. 

If you want to contribute to the Chamber blog, contact us on hannah@brightonchamber.co.uk