Dismissed while pregnant

Can you clarify if they knew you were pregnant before they dismissed you.

I really feel for you OP. It’s so shit. I think the ‘less than two years’ rule is awful and disproportionately affects women.

Similar thing happened to me, although I wasn’t pregnant. I’d been at a small company for almost two years. Had a very positive performance review and during the review I asked for a pay rise and to change my working pattern slightly (not reduce my hours but just make a small tweak to the pattern). A month later I was handed a letter saying my performance was ‘poor’, which was literally the first I’d heard of it, and I was being dismissed. No discussion, no explanation, nothing. It was so, so patently unfair and I had absolutely no recourse. I still get livid about it if I think about it now.

Unfortunately, the only challenge you might have is if you can prove they knew you were pregnant before they dismissed you. Pregnancy is a protected characteristic, so the two year rule doesn’t apply as far as I know.

You being pregnant is irrelevant then in the case of unfair dismissal, was your performance poor?

It’s a tough situation to be in!

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OP did they know you were pregnant or have they reason to suspect you were?

Eg: small office, frequent bathroom breaks, sickness ect...

If you have not previously had any comments about your work performance, ie suggestions that you need to improve and some sort of time scale, then it would be unfair dismissal - except for the just under 2 years. Do you have a written contract? What does it say?

Does your employer have a history of getting rid of people just before they reach their 2 years? Would seem this is a common sharp practice.

In an ideal world if you were in a union you could get representation.

You could contact Citizen's Advice www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/leaving-a-job/dismissal/check-if-your-dismissal-is-fair/

Depending on where you live there may be a local Law Centre that could give you advice - see www.lawcentres.org.uk/i-am-looking-for-advice

If this came up after you told them about being pregnant then in addition to above:

Maternity Action maternityaction.org.uk/get-free-advice/

Pregnant then Screwed pregnantthenscrewed.com/how-does-the-advice-line-work/

As others have said, less than two years they don't need to follow any procedures for poor performance.
If you told them you were pregnant and they sacked you, you may have a case if you can prove it.

An employer is entitled to dismiss an employee if they have less than 2 years service. That dismissal is not unfair in law even if it might be unfair in layman's terms.

There are certain limited circumstances where a dismissal might be unfair in law despite the employee having less than 2 years service- one of which is pregnancy.

If the employer did not know the OP was pregnant (or if none of the other limited exceptions apply) her employer can be as unfair as they like without being "unfair".

[quote WeNo]**@FredaFox* and @DidoLamenting*, I was referring to the fact OP's perceived poor performance was not managed properly, nothing to do with whether she had told them she was pregnant before or after. Her employer should have given her a warning and a chance to improve. However, I've just looked it up and that only applies if she's been there over two years :(
Dismissal for being pregnant is unfair from day one of employment so it depends when OP told them.

Hopefully OP got some good advice from Maternity Action... perfect timing for the collaboration with MN.[/quote]
Your advice was wrong. There is no obligation to enter into discussions about performance/ issue warnings etc. if the employee has less than 2 year's service. Whether the situation was "not managed properly" is irrelevant.

The point about pregnancy has already been covered by me so I'm not quite sure why you feel the need to tell me what I've already said.

also if you told them verbally, there is no proof. Always communicate on email - so have the chat and then follow up with something like "dear X, thanks for your time this morning/afternoon. Following on from my informing you of my pregnancy, please can you advise next steps relating to HR processes? Regards,X).

That starts a paper trail and then you would have grounds for thinking it was because you're pregnant.

I found ACAS helpful. Give them a call, they will tell you your rights regarding dismissal. Also I imagine your contract would have a process in which they dismiss people (disciplinary, final warning and dismissal) so perhaps take a look at that before you speak to ACAS if you choose to do so.

Given you're 2 weeks away from your 2 year anniversary, you're not entitled to redundancy. I've been there and yes it sucks, but I'd be more concerned with how they handled the dismissal

If they didn't know you were pregnant before then you shouldn't use that as a basis for dismissal.

@FredaFox and @DidoLamenting, I was referring to the fact OP's perceived poor performance was not managed properly, nothing to do with whether she had told them she was pregnant before or after. Her employer should have given her a warning and a chance to improve. However, I've just looked it up and that only applies if she's been there over two years :(
Dismissal for being pregnant is unfair from day one of employment so it depends when OP told them.

Hopefully OP got some good advice from Maternity Action... perfect timing for the collaboration with MN.

If they knew you were pregnant you could go down the route of unfair dismissal. If you only told them when you were getting the warning then they haven't dismissed you unfairly as they did not know.

It sounds like they didn't know you were pregnant when they fired you, so that isn't relevant. Within 2 years they don't need to go through any lengthy process.

It's not clear from your OP if the pregnancy was mentioned before the meeting or during. If during, it has no bearing, and if before, have their been any performance reviews or meetings stating you're not performing to standard?

Mumsnet is running an online clinic with the charity Maternity Action this week. Their lawyers are experts on pregnancy and maternity at work and can answer your questions. Link is www.mumsnet.com/Talk/employment_issues/4026809-MNHQ-here-A-new-FREE-legal-advice-clinic-from-Maternity-Action-about-pregnancy-maternity-or-parental-issues-at-work

An employee with less than 2 years employment may have a contractual breach of contract claim if dismissed without the requisite notice period. Damages would be the pay for the notice period.

If the dismissal is due to discrimination because of a protected characteristic there is a possibility of an unfair dismissal claim. There are other limited grounds where 2 years service is not needed for a claim e.g political views. In the absence of these an employee can be dismissed before the 2 years are up and the dismissal will not in law be unfair.

You can be made redundant while pregnant please disregard pp advice @DidoLamenting is correct in her response