Pregnant women ‘are facing issues with redundancy’

Posted 07/04/2011

New research has shown that pregnant women could be facing issues with redundancy in the workplace, despite laws in place to protect them.

Charity Working Families said it has seen an increasing number of expectant women calling its helpline with concerns about losing their jobs.

In 2010, 12 per cent of calls were to do with redundancy, but 80 per cent of those were from women on maternity leave.

Sarah Jackson, chief executive of Working Families, urged businesses to work with their employees to resolve the difficult issues surrounding work and childcare.

“We are disappointed to report that the laws protecting these vulnerable women are flouted more blatantly in this difficult economic climate,” she added.

This comes after Unite also raised concerns last month about the abuse of women’s rights in the workplace. Regional officer Claire Keane said the organisation had discovered a lot of cases where managers had been pressuring pregnant women or had asked them to leave.