Tag Archives: maternity discrimination

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August 4, 2015

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Discrimination

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BIS/EHRC research prompts a pregnant silence in Westminster

On 24 July, as I was busy lying on a beach in Portugal, the Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) and the Equality & Human Rights Commission (ECHR) published the first findings of their joint, £1 million research study into pregnancy and maternity discrimination at work. Though you could be forgiven for not realising, from the associated press and media coverage, that the study was very much a joint enterprise between BIS and the EHRC. For the current crop of ministers exhibited no desire to associate themselves with the outcome of an initiative announced with some fanfare by their Conservative colleague and then minister for women and equalities, Maria Miller, in October 2013.

Mrs Miller – now chair of the newly-formed women and equalities select committee – did at least manage to tweet a call for ministers to “act to stop employers flouting [the] law protecting pregnant women”. And former BIS minister Jo Swinson – seemingly the driving force behind the 2013 decision to commission the research – went further, describing the findings as “sobering” and using a blog for Mumsnet to call for “a zero tolerance approach to [such] discrimination”. But from prime minister David Cameron, current minister for women and equalities Nicky Morgan, justice secretary Michael Gove, and BIS ministers such as Sajid Javid and Nick Boles, there was not a peep.

This is, to put it mildly, disappointing. For the BIS/EHRC research findings are not just sobering, but shocking. Despite the vast majority of the more than 3,000 employers surveyed for the research reporting that the statutory legal rights relating to pregnancy and maternity are reasonable and easy to implement, the 18-month study found that:

  • Unlawful maternity and pregnancy discrimination is now more common in Britain’s workplaces than ever before, with as many as 54,000 pregnant women and new mothers – one in nine – unfairly forced out of their job every year. This is almost twice the figure of 30,000 suggested by the then Equal Opportunities Commission in 2005, and very close to the figure of “up to 60,000” suggested by Maternity Action in its December 2013 report Overdue;
  • Single mothers, and young mothers (under 25), are at particular risk;
  • One in three women feel their needs during pregnancy or as a new mother are not supported willingly by their employer;
  • One in six new mothers suffer a negative impact on their health or stress levels because of poor treatment at work; and
  • Only one in 12 (8%) of those women who raise a concern about their treatment at work obtain legal advice from an external advice provider such as Maternity Action or a CAB.

You’d think ministers first elected (in 2010) on a manifesto promising to make Britain “the most family-friendly country in Europe” and positioning themselves as the ‘true party of workers’ might have something to say about such authoritative research findings.

However, as Ros Bragg of Maternity Action noted in the Guardian, they might then have to explain not only why they’ve done nothing to address what amounts to a significant deterioration in the position of pregnant women and new mothers in the workplace over the past decade, but also why they have acted to make it far more difficult for women to challenge their employer and obtain justice. In particular, they might have to explain why, since July 2013, women wishing to pursue a tribunal claim for pregnancy, maternity or other discrimination have had to pay up to £1,200 in upfront tribunal fees.

Pursuing a tribunal claim has always been a daunting prospect, especially for pregnant women and new mothers, and – as the following chart shows – the number of claims for pregnancy-related detriment or dismissal has never been huge. But the number of such claims has fallen by 40%, from an average of 126 per month before fees, to just 75 per month in 2014.

Screen Shot 2015-07-30 at 12.52.49

In other words, in 2014 just 893 (1.6%) of the 54,000 women who, according to the meticulous BIS/EHRC research, were forced out of work on account of their pregnancy or maternity leave issued a tribunal claim against their former employer. Not so much a ‘zero tolerance approach to discrimination’ then, as a charter for dinosaur and rogue employers. Yet, as noted by Sally Brett of the TUC, this is hardly surprising when one

“pauses to consider what a new mother is dealing with: sleepless nights, a newborn baby demanding round-the-clock attention, a significantly reduced income, and increased expense. No wonder so many women find it so hard to find the time or energy to research the law, seek advice and lodge a well drafted legal claim within three months of the discrimination they have suffered. No wonder that so few feel ready to stump up £1,200 to get a case lodged and heard at tribunal.”

That government ministers should have nothing at all to say about this is troubling enough. But Cameron, Morgan, Gove and Javid were hardly put to shame by their ministerial shadows. Labour’s press office did put out a brief statement by shadow equalities minister Gloria De Piero – “It’s time to look at how we can strengthen the law and scrap tribunal fees so cost is never a barrier to justice” – but otherwise the silence from Labour MPs, including the four leadership candidates, was almost as deafening as that from government ministers. As far as I can tell, neither Yvette Cooper nor Liz Kendall considered the issue worthy of their comment, despite their (laudable) record of highlighting such discrimination, and the pink bus stayed locked away in its garage.

Such reticence from the party that Liz Kendall describes – in a campaigning piece issued just five days after the launch of the BIS/EHRC research – as “the greatest champion of equality and opportunity that our country has ever known” is mystifying and, it must be said, deeply depressing. It may well be time, in the words of Maternity Action’s Ros Bragg, for ministers to “move beyond family-friendly rhetoric to delivering practical solutions to this persistent and growing problem”, but shadow ministers have yet to deliver any credible rhetoric. It’s not as if the issue is that complex – tens of thousands of women are being forced out of work simply for having babies. And if the Labour opposition really has nothing to say about that, then it’s no surprise that government ministers feel able to sit on their hands too.

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December 9, 2013

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Overdue: a plan to tackle pregnancy & maternity discrimination

In 2005, three years before the global financial crisis of late 2008 and subsequent economic recession, a landmark study by the Equal Opportunities Commission found that half of all pregnant women suffered a related disadvantage at work, and that each year 30,000 were forced out of their job.  Eight years on, all the available evidence suggests that such pregnancy and maternity discrimination is now more common than ever before, and that as many as 60,000 women are pushed out of work each year.

Faced with mounting evidence of this proliferation of pregnancy and maternity discrimination, key government ministers have, until very recently, simply denied that there is a problem.  But in November, announcing £1 million of funding to enable the Equalities & Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to undertake a new study of the issue, ministers finally accepted that such unlawful discrimination “remains prevalent and more needs to be done to tackle it”.

Unfortunately, since 2010 the Coalition Government has made it even harder than it was in 2005 for women to tackle such discrimination.  Access to already overstretched sources of free employment advice, such as law centres and CABx, has been shrunk by the abolition of almost all civil legal aid – since April, three law centres have closed their doors for good.  The ‘questionnaire procedure’ in employment tribunal discrimination claims – which facilitates the revealing of crucial information held by the employer but otherwise not available to the claimant – is set to be abolished in April 2014.  And, perhaps most damagingly of all, since July 2013 those wishing to pursue a tribunal claim for pregnancy, maternity or other discrimination must pay up to £1,200 in upfront tribunal fees.

Bringing a tribunal claim is a daunting challenge at the best of times, and especially so for pregnant women and new mothers: the odds are stacked against them at a time when they need to protect their own and their baby’s health, and their income.  The great majority do not have access to the support and advice of a trade union, and simply cannot afford to pay for legal advice.  The introduction of tribunal fees of up to £1,200 only serves to further deter women with well-founded claims from taking legal action.

With pregnant women and new mothers facing the biggest living standards crisis in a generation, and the Government asserting that “we cannot deal with the economic challenges we face without properly using the talents of women in the workplace”, a new report by Maternity Action – Overdue: a plan of action to tackle pregnancy & maternity discrimination now – suggests it is time for ministers to translate their grand words into action.  The scale of the problem – and the impact both on individual women and their families, and on gender equality more widely – demands a firm response from government to ensure job security for all women during their pregnancy and maternity leave.

The announcement of £1 million additional funding to enable the EHRC to undertake a new study of the incidence of pregnancy and maternity discrimination is very welcome, as is the belated recognition by ministers of the scale and systemic nature of the problem.  But the EHRC study is unlikely to report for some time, quite possibly not until late 2014, leaving little if any time for meaningful government action before the general election in May 2015.  In any case, the Government could very easily act now to better protect the rights of pregnant women and mothers at work.

Perhaps most importantly, Maternity Action says the Government should scrap – or at least reduce to a nominal level – the upfront fees for discrimination and other employment tribunal claims introduced in July 2013.  There is now a broad consensus – including both the TUC and the CBI – that the Ministry of Justice has got it badly wrong on fees, and that, at the very least, the fees regime should be “redesigned to incentivise early resolution of disputes rather than maximise revenue” for the Ministry.  In the words of the CBI, claimant “fees should never be a barrier to justice”.

Secondly, the Government should abandon its planned abolition of the ‘questionnaire procedure’ in discrimination claims.  The proposed abolition will benefit no one, and will save no public money.

Thirdly, the Government should establish a process for publicly ‘naming and shaming’ employers found by a tribunal to have broken the law on pregnancy, maternity or other discrimination.

Fourthly, the Government should take speedy and robust action to improve compliance with employment tribunal awards, to ensure that women awarded financial compensation for pregnancy or maternity discrimination by a tribunal actually receive the money due to them.

Fifthly, the Government should match its funding of the new EHRC investigation into the extent of pregnancy and maternity discrimination with funding for an information campaign aimed improving the awareness of both workers and employers of the law on such discrimination, and an injection of funding into the specialist information and advice services that pregnant women and new mothers need to help them protect their rights at work.

And, last but not least, the Government should send out a strong message to dinosaur employers that economic recession and ‘hard times’ are no excuse to flout the law.

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