What women face when their working while pregnant . Its an important issue all over the world what women face.

What’s pregnancy and maternity discrimination?

Pregnancy and maternity discrimination is when your employer treats you unfairly because you’re pregnant or because you’ve recently had a baby, and you suffer a disadvantage as a result - for example, if you're dismissed or refused a promotion.

The Equality Act says you’ve been treated unfavourably. To show unfavourable treatment, you don't have to compare your situation to someone else’s - for example a man or someone who's not pregnant. All you need to show is that you were treated unfavourably.

When are you protected against pregnancy and maternity discrimination?

An employer mustn’t discriminate against you because:

• you’re pregnant, or
• of a pregnancy-related illness.

Once you’ve had your baby, it’s also unlawful to discriminate against you for one of these reasons:

• you’re on maternity leave
• you’ve been on maternity leave
• you’ve tried to take maternity leave which you’re entitled to.

How long are you protected against pregnancy and maternity discrimination?

The protection against pregnancy and maternity discrimination at work lasts for a specific period of time which is called the protected period. The protected period begins when you become pregnant.

If you have the right to maternity leave, the protected period ends when your maternity leave ends or when you return to work, if this is earlier. If you don’t have the right to maternity leave, the protected period ends two weeks after your child was born.

If you’re treated unfavourably outside the protected period because you’ve been pregnant or have had a baby, you could still be protected against discrimination because of your sex.

• More about maternity leave

If you’re breastfeeding

Your employer doesn’t have to allow you to take time off to breastfeed. But they should try to accommodate you if you want to keep breastfeeding after you return to work. In particular, if your employer says you can’t express milk at work or change your working patterns so you can breastfeed outside the workplace, you may be able to complain about unlawful sex discrimination.

Example
You're GP has advised you to continue breastfeeding your baby to help with his eczema. You've asked your employer to work flexible hours after your maternity leave so you can do this. If your employer refuses to allow you to change your working hours, it may be indirect sex discrimination unless your employer can justify their decision.

• More about sex discrimination
• More about indirect discrimination at work

Examples of unfavourable treatment

Situations where you may be able to complain about pregnancy and maternity discrimination include if:

• you're suspended from work by your employer for health and safety reasons and don't receive full pay
• you're dismissed because your employer says they can't afford to pay you statutory maternity pay
• you can't go to a disciplinary meeting due to a pregnancy-related illness and your employer refuses to re-arrange the meeting
• you're disciplined for having performance issues due to a pregnancy-related illness
• your employer fails to carry out a health and safety risk assessment, forcing you to resign
• your employer demotes or dismisses you, or stops you from having training or promotion opportunities, because you're pregnant or on maternity leave
• your employer refuses to give you time off for antenatal care or to give you your normal pay when you attend antenatal appointments
• you’re made redundant during your maternity leave and there isn't a genuine redundancy situation or you're selected because you're pregnant
• you’re turned down for a job when the employer learns you’re pregnant.

• More about situations when you may be able to complain about pregnancy and maternity discrimination

Other maternity rights

Most pregnant employees have other important rights under employment law in addition to the right not to be discriminated against in the Equality Act.  

These rights are called maternity rights and include the right to:

• take time off work for antenatal care - your employer must give you reasonable time off work to attend antenatal appointments and you’re entitled to receive your normal pay you during this time
• maternity leave - this includes ordinary and additional maternity leave
• maternity pay - this can be statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance, if you don't have enough length of service to be entitled to statutory maternity pay
• health and safety protection - your employer must carry out a health and safety risk assessment if you’re pregnant
• have your pay and conditions maintained during your maternity leave
• return to your job after ordinary maternity leave or a similar job after additional maternity leave.

If your employer doesn’t respect your maternity rights, they’re breaking the law and you can take action against them. This includes making a claim in the employment tribunal.

Often you’ll be able to complain about unlawful discrimination as well when an employer breaches your maternity rights.

REFERNCES

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/work_w/discrimination_at_work/what_are_the_different_types_of_discrimination/em10_pregnancy_and_maternity_discrimination_at_work.htm