Pregnancy discrimination has been an ongoing battle for women in the workplace for decades, but a new ruling states that asking a pregnant employee whether she plans to return to work after giving birth is a form of discrimination.
Laura Duffy, who works as an assistant at Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust in north London, sued her employer after he nodded towards her pregnant stomach and questioned her 'future plans', according to The Times. She could now receive compensation for winning her pregnancy discrimination claim.
The discrimination occurred during a meeting in September 2019 with her NHS boss, Alan Beaton, who was considering her for a salary promotion.
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Duffy, who was a 'band four' employee, meaning that she earned up to £25,000 a year, as revealed in the court hearing, was asked to attend a meeting with Beaton after a fellow employee named Joanne Cleasby made a 'stereotypical assumption' that she wouldn't return to work after her maternity leave. The tribunal also heard Duffy was subjected to accusations suggesting she'd planned her pregnancy in order to get promoted.
Cleasby was said to be 'annoyed' that bosses intended to automatically put Duffy's salary in line with a 'band five' role after a restructuring of the personal assistant team – a decision she deemed as unfair. The salary increase that Duffy was made aware of in August 2019 would enable her to receive up to £3,000 more than her annual income at the time.
Cleasby, however, was told that she would have to formerly apply for a higher band, which was highlighted as a reason for her resentment towards Duffy. As well as highlighting that Cleasby wrongly concluded Duffy was in a privileged position due to her pregnancy – which she complained to colleagues about – the court ruled that she discriminated against Duffy with her comments.
'You planned your pregnancy well,' the court heard of one of Cleasby's discriminatory remarks, and was also acknowledged to have said: 'Have you told [your boss] that you won’t be coming back after maternity?'
The court stated: 'The reason why Ms Cleasby said these things is that she was annoyed and upset about what she perceived was Mrs Duffy’s unfair preferential treatment.'
Employment judge David Maxwell added: 'The obligation on Mrs Duffy to inform her employers about her intentions was a long way off and he ought not to have referred to this at all. The three acts were [individually and cumulatively] unfavourable treatment because Mrs Duffy was pregnant.'
During Duffy's meeting with Beaton, she was told she'd have to be interviewed for the promotion and face redeployment if unsuccessful. Despite a successful interview for the band five position a month later, Duffy disputed her salary and made a formal complaint and launched proceedings at the tribunal. If Duffy and the NHS cannot come to an agreement, the panel stated a follow-up hearing to decide on compensation would be held.
A spokesman for Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust, said: 'We acknowledge the decision in this case. We are glad that the claimant remains in our employment and we will continue to support her and all our staff to ensure they are treated inclusively, fairly and with compassion.'
Of course, this isn't the first time a woman has spoken out about pregnancy discrimination in the work place.
Almost 10 years ago Joeli Brearley founded 'Pregnant Then Screwed' – a charity set up to combat such discrimination – after being discriminated against herself. Brearley was fired by her boss in 2013 via a voicemail after revealing she was pregnant.
'I immediately thought: "The law will protect me,"' she told the Guardian last year. 'But I was also terrified, because I had bills to pay, and I thought: ‘Nobody’s going to employ me now.'
Due to her high-risk pregnancy and being advised by doctors to back out of fighting against the injustice, she set up the campaign instead.
In the same interview with the news outlet, Brearley – who also wrote the book Pregnant Then Screwed: The Truth About the Motherhood Penalty and How to Fix It – said the campaign has led to the provision of free legal advice for approximately 32,000 women.
Brearley also said that she'd received 3,000 calls from women experiencing work-related pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
