New protections promised

Legislation to protect pregnant women from redundancy moved closer to law in February when the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill passed unopposed through the House of Commons.

The new bill, introduced by Labour MP Dan Jarvis, extends the current rules – covering workers on maternity, shared parenting and adoption leave – to pregnant women and new parents returning to the workplace.

It means all employers will be obliged to offer workers in these categories a suitable vacancy during a redundancy exercise. A woman worker will be protected from the moment she tells her boss she is pregnant until the child is 18 months old, six months longer than statutory maternity leave.

The bill received a cautious welcome from women’s groups and trade unions, including Usdaw, whose general secretary, Paddy Lillis, said that “pregnancy discrimination at work and in the labour market remains widespread”, adding that women in unorganised workplaces remain at risk as they are “often too afraid or vulnerable to assert their rights”.