Pregnancy risk assessments

Case 4: The facts

Mrs Stevenson was an accounts practice manager in a solicitors’ firm. She notified her employer that she was pregnant but claimed they had failed to carry out a risk assessment. She also alleged that their attitude towards her changed and they became unpleasant. Eventually she resigned and claimed constructive dismissal. An employment tribunal dismissed Stevenson’s claims, criticising her evidence on credibility. She appealed.

The ruling

The EAT upheld the employment tribunal’s findings that there had been no sex discrimination. It said the employer had carried out a risk assessment in the form of meetings with Stevenson addressing two particular concerns Stevenson had raised as well as a generic pregnancy risk assessment. They had also kept a record of it as required. A risk assessment does not have to take a specific form, the EAT said; it involves an evaluation and examination of all the circumstances but there is no requirement that it be done in writing.

The EAT also held that refusing to allow Stevenson to return to work after she had suffered an injury at work from falling down the stairs because of dizziness was a lawful paid suspension on maternity grounds under section 66 of the Employment Rights Act. The employer had been entitled to suspend her based on its own knowledge even though a GP had signed a certificate stating she was fit to work.