To think this is pregnancy discrimination?

[Moonpigdotcomm]

I started a new job a few months ago. The job was part time, but every day with the same working hours. The company is a very small family run business, in an industry that requires certain skills/qualifications in order to do the job. When I started I’d already been qualified for a year and had worked at another company doing the same job. Despite this I felt very much like a spare part from the beginning, being given work outside of my job role such as cleaning and office work 90% of the time because I’m ‘less experienced’ than the other staff and made to feel like I have to prove myself first.

a few weeks into starting the job I found out I was pregnant, which was very happy news after having some problems conceiving. I kept it to myself for a while, hiding the morning sickness and fatigue at work and just getting on with it. After the scan I posted the news on SM and nobody from the company acknowledged it. I’d felt uneasy about telling them in person because of how new I was in the role.

Immediately after my announcement they stopped updating my rota and it just showed I had no hours. This went on for a couple of weeks, and when I asked about it I was told that there wasn’t enough work for me this week. A few days later I received a contract in the post saying I’m now on a zero hours contract. I tried to get in contact about this and was ignored. Another month has now gone by and I’ve not been offered any hours or had any contact with them at all.

Is this their way of getting rid of me for being pregnant? I wasn’t planning on taking any real maternity leave anyway since my partner is a SAHD and I could have easily carried on doing the hours after a few weeks off since it wasn’t full time. I’m getting UC and I’m worried it’s going to mess up my claim.

Well no one here has covered themselves in glory, have they?

Announcing on SM knowing full well they’d have sight of the post was foolish- they can now try and claim that they had no idea, and makes any case you bring a bit trickier to prove.

And whoever it is at your workplace who thinks they can pick and choose what statutory rights someone is entitled to is a complete tit.

Ignore any posters saying they don’t “think” you’ve been discriminated against. Contact Pregnant Then Screwed who can give you proper advice after hearing the full facts of your situation, rather than some random on Mumsnet.

Some of these responses are mind boggling. A risk assessment for what> she’s not worked there over a month, likely longer than she did work there, part time for 6 weeks with no contract and then a zero hours one. What they going to be risk assessing her for. She doesn’t work there.

amd for the poster saying she’s a good case, words fail me.😂

There’s not enough information given to say one way or the other in relation to OP having a good case or not.

She needs to speak to a professional who can look at the specifics of her situation, which is the only advice anyone here should be giving.

If you've only been there 6 weeks part time, have never had a contract, and hardly had any work given to you when you've been at work...you're really going to struggle.

Even more so as you can't prove they know you're pregnant, and you haven't actually told anyone.

I really can't see you being successfully pursuing this. I'd try and find a new job.

Hi OP, I work for a trade union. Unofficial advice from me would be to explore this further. There's a lot of conflicting and inaccurate advice on this thread, as well as some helpful stuff, such as contacting Pregnant Then Screwed, or Maternity Action.

If you were to come to me with this case, on the details you have given, I would be concerned about proving the discrimination due to you not officially informing them of your pregnancy.

Were you to have informed them, and then subsequently suffered a detriment e.g. reduced hours, you would arguably have a case. You do not need two years' service for a discrimination issue such as this.

I don't think all hope is necessarily lost - as I say, worth exploring further.

In 2020 I had 2 jobs. In September 2020 I found out I was pregnant again. Went to my scan Nov 20 and all was fine so I emailed my boss to tell her and ask if I was okay to keep working as it was at a covid hospital. She said it was so I then posted on SM.

I didn't tell my other job as I wasn't getting shifts anyway and had been planning on leaving. It was zero hours. So when they emailed me in Jan 21 and said they had work for me at a covid testing centre I replied saying I was 23 weeks pregnant so it wouldn't be suitable. I then got a reply that they were giving me my p45. But they worded it in such a way that it wasn't due to pregnancy. So they covered themselves. They also fucked up furlough for everyone and when events started Aug 20 again they took everyone off furlough even the shielding.

However you OP have gone about it completely wrong and I agree with other posters that you basically don't work there anymore.

The burden of proof in employment tribunals is with the the claimant, not the employer

Congratulations 😃 fab news.

Anyway on the job stuff, you’ve put your employer in an awkward position. You haven’t formally told them you’re pregnant but you have informally made them aware. They don’t know your due date so they can’t arrange cover, they don’t know if you’re planning to leave or stay, and they can’t do a workplace health and safety assessment for you as they are required to do for example to check what cleaning chemicals you can work with, if your workstation is suitable for a pregnant lady etc.

Make an appointment with your manager, open the meeting by telling him you are pregnant and when your due date is. If you explain that the timing is a surprise as you’d kind of given up hope, this will help your working relationship.

The burden of proof in employment tribunals is with the the claimant, not the employer

Before making a claim in a tribunal, an individual needs to prove they have a case. The burden of proof falls on the claimant. Basically, it means that they need to present clear, valid facts for the judge to consider if they will accept the case.

Once a claimant has been able to satisfy the employment tribunal, burden of proof will then shift to the respondent. This means the employer, who’ll have an opportunity to argue that the claim is incorrect.