Pregnancy dismissal

Q. A pregnant member has just been told that she has to attend a formal meeting to discuss her absences. She has just been signed off work for two months because of stress caused by the bullying behaviour of her manager, but had some time off work previously because of pregnancy-related sickness.

Having been employed for only five months, she is still in her probationary period. Can her employer dismiss her, and would she still be entitled to receive Statutory Maternity Pay?

A. It is unlawful to subject a worker to any detriment or to dismiss her because she is pregnant or for a reason related to her pregnancy.

Although it may be difficult to establish that her current absence is pregnancy-related (unless there is medical evidence to show that it is), it seems that her previous absences were. If her employer dismissed her on grounds of capability and took those absences into account, her dismissal would be automatically unfair because it would be for a reason related to her pregnancy. She would not need to have a year's service in order to bring a claim.

To qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), an employee must have been employed for at least 26 weeks by the 15th week before the baby is due - so your member is not entitled to SMP. But if she has worked for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before the expected week of childbirth, she may qualify for Maternity Allowance.