Tribunal says pregnant women have right to full probation

Employers who are about to dismiss probationary employees while they are on maternity leave have to extend the probation instead, according to a recent legal ruling.

Many employers require new employees to serve a period of probation, before being offered permanent work. The Employment Appeal Tribunal warns that they should ensure that pregnant employees get a fair chance to serve all of their probationary period .

The ruling comes as the result of a case taken against Relate, the marriage guidance charity. It hired an employee who was pregnant at the time of her appointment. She was told that, like all other Relate staff, she would be on six months' probation,

She worked three months and then began her maternity leave. At the end of the six months, and while she was still on leave, Relate sent her a letter terminating her contract on the basis of an unsatisfactory probation.

The only service taken into account was the three months before the start of her maternity leave. In effect because she was pregnant she did not have the same chance to demonstrate her range of skills as anyone else completing the six-month probationary period.

The EAT says that employers who do this are breaking sex discrimination law. It has ruled that, if the alternative would be dismissal, employers must extend the probationary period of workers on maternity leave,

* The case is Haines Lee v Relate Berkshire EAT/1458/01