£25,000 awarded for unfair dismissal due to pregnancy
Leeds Employment Tribunal recently awarded just over £25,000 in compensation after it ruled a woman was unfairly dismissed from her training job at Bradford District Training Agency after she became pregnant.
The woman told the tribunal that her contract had been verbally extended at the same time as she received a promotion and pay increase. She spent a number of weeks chasing the company for her written terms of the extended contract, which would have kept her in her role until March 2017. She was later dismissed, shortly after announcing her pregnancy.
The company stated that the woman lost her job due to redundancy and that her fixed-term contract had expired, it was nothing to do with her pregnancy. However, the tribunal found that the company had offered unreliable evidence and the company’s behavior was ‘substantially and procedurally unfair’ and stated that firing an employee because of being pregnant was a ‘serious act of discrimination’.
The woman was awarded £9,130 for loss of earnings and £15,600 for injury to feelings and £435 for loss of statutory rights.
Naeema Choudry, a partner at law firm Eversheds Sutherland, stated that; “Tribunals will undertake a thorough evaluation of the facts and evidence whether there is an inference of discrimination. While it is not unlawful to make redundant a pregnant employee if the decision is linked in any way to the pregnancy it will amount to unlawful discrimination and unfair dismissal. Similarly, if the contract of employment of a pregnant worker is not renewed because of her pregnancy or future maternity leave, this would also amount to unlawful discrimination.”
This case shows us that tribunals take discrimination very seriously and that they will not simply accept at face value the reason for dismissal put forward by an employer. Employers should also be aware that as there is no cap on the amount of compensation that a tribunal can award in a claim for discrimination.
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