Pregnant women face redundancy threat

Posted 11/08/2009

More and more female employees who fall pregnant could be earmarked for redundancy, experts have warned.

According to the Fawcett Society, many employers were breaching employment law by discriminating against pregnant women before the current economic slump began.

However, it believes a greater number of bosses will start to use the recession “as an excuse” to lay off expectant mothers in their workforce.

Sharon Smee, campaigns and policy officer at the Fawcett Society, commented: “Even before the recession, an estimated 30,000 women were losing their jobs each year as a result of being pregnant.”

She added that there is likely to be an “alarming increase” in this figure over the next few months.

This echoes a recent statement from Rosalind Bragg of charity group Maternity Action, who warned that this form of discrimination is against the law.

Speaking to the Guardian, she said the charity is very concerned that “unscrupulous” employers are unfairly targeting pregnant women and those who are on maternity leave.