Pregnancy and maternity discrimination

Essential points

• The Equality Act 2010 (the act) protects a woman from discrimination based on their pregnancy or maternity.
• A woman is protected from when her pregnancy starts and the employer is informed, or it is reasonable for the employer to have known, that the woman is pregnant. This is the start of the ‘protected period.’
• Unlike other protected characteristics covered by the act, a woman cannot claim indirect discrimination or harassment based on pregnancy and/or maternity but can claim that she has been directly discriminated against (including perceptive or associative discrimination) or victimised because of her pregnancy or maternity.
• The facts which would otherwise amount to indirect discrimination or harassment because of pregnancy or maternity will often also allow the woman to claim that she has been the subject of indirect discrimination or harassment on the grounds of the protected characteristic of sex.
• A woman does not need to compare herself to a man – she simply needs to show ‘unfavourable treatment’ based on pregnancy or maternity.
• There are other protections and claims that can relate to pregnancy. For example, the right to (and special protection for) time off for ante-natal appointments, enhanced health and safety considerations, pregnancy related illness rights and enhanced rights during any redundancy/redeployment processes. These rights are covered in our Maternity leave and pay law page and also in Acas guidance on redundancy protection.