Maternity Discrimination.

Maternity discrimination can arise if an employer treats you unfavourably because you are taking, intend to take or have taken maternity leave. Examples may include excluding you from development opportunities, making decisions about your job without proper consultation or treating your maternity absence as a performance problem. A single incident can be enough; there does not have to be a pattern.

The precise legal claim depends on the timing and reason for the treatment. Other rights may also be relevant, including protection from detriment for taking statutory maternity leave and protection against unfair dismissal. Our employment solicitors can consider those overlapping rights rather than assuming that every disagreement amounts to discrimination.

Your employer can arrange temporary cover, but it cannot simply refuse to reinstate you because the person covering your role has performed well. Your right to return depends partly on how much statutory maternity leave you have taken and whether there have been other relevant periods of family leave.

After no more than 26 weeks of maternity leave, employees generally have the right to return to the same job. After more than 26 weeks, an alternative may be lawful if returning to the original job is not reasonably practicable, but the replacement must be suitable and appropriate, on terms no less favourable. The facts of any genuine reorganisation matter.

A change in title, reporting line, duties or team size may be significant even if your pay has stayed the same. Ask for an explanation of what changed, when the decision was taken and whether your original role still exists. Keep copies of the role description, organisational announcements and correspondence about your return.

Whether the change is lawful depends on your contractual terms, the statutory right to return and the reason for the employer’s decision. It may also be a breach of contract. We can review the changes alongside your employment contract and advise on the appropriate response.

Yes, a genuine redundancy can arise during maternity leave, but it must not be because you took that leave. There are also enhanced rules for employees who are pregnant or taking maternity leave, with protection potentially extending for 18 months after birth. Where suitable alternative vacancies exist, qualifying employees must be offered them as a priority.

This is not an automatic right to keep a particular role when a genuine redundancy situation removes it. Selection, consultation and suitable vacancies must all be considered. Our redundancy solicitors can review the proposed process and any offer of alternative work before a deadline passes.

Your employer should not use maternity leave as a reason to deny you access to promotion, training or important decisions affecting your role. A failure to notify you of a promotion opportunity or restructuring exercise can have real consequences, particularly when the opportunity is then lost.

The employer and employee should usually agree sensible arrangements for keeping in touch while on leave. The fact that someone is absent does not automatically excuse their exclusion. We can help establish what information should have been shared, whether you were disadvantaged and what practical solution is available.

A request for different hours is not automatically guaranteed. Employees can make a statutory flexible working request, and an employer must deal with it according to the applicable rules. A refusal may also raise a potential indirect sex discrimination issue if a working pattern disproportionately disadvantages women and cannot be objectively justified.

For that reason, it is important to distinguish a refusal that is disappointing from one that may be unlawful. We can review the reasons given, potential alternatives and whether a challenge should be raised internally before any wider dispute develops.

Disadvantage associated with breastfeeding after returning to work can raise legal concerns, including sex discrimination and workplace health and safety duties. The specific statutory pregnancy and maternity discrimination protections are not identical in every context, so it would be misleading to assume that all breastfeeding-related disputes fall under the same cause of action.

The employer should consider practical arrangements, the working environment and any related request for different hours. Record what support you requested, the response and the impact on you. We can advise on possible rights and how to raise concerns constructively.

Dismissing an employee for taking or seeking to take statutory maternity leave can amount to automatically unfair dismissal. Depending on the circumstances, it may also involve unlawful discrimination. These protections are different from the ordinary qualifying-service rules for an unfair dismissal claim.

If you have been told that your role is no longer available or that your performance is unsatisfactory, examine the reasons and the chronology carefully. Avoid signing a waiver or resignation letter without understanding it. We can advise on unfair dismissal and any proposed settlement agreement.

Useful documents include the maternity leave notifications, pre-leave role description, pay and bonus records, promotion adverts, emails about organisational changes, return-to-work correspondence and notes of meetings. A clear timeline can help distinguish what happened while you were absent from what you were told afterwards.

Keep evidence you are lawfully entitled to retain, without copying confidential company information improperly. If you wish to remain employed, it may be sensible to raise a measured written grievance explaining both the problem and your preferred solution. Advice at this stage can prevent an avoidable escalation.

For many Employment Tribunal claims arising from conduct on or after 1 October 2026, the usual time limit is six months less one day from the relevant act or dismissal, subject to the particular claim and applicable early conciliation rules. Earlier incidents may still be subject to shorter deadlines, and deciding the date of discrimination can be complex.

A workplace grievance does not, by itself, stop tribunal time running. If you are concerned, seek advice promptly rather than waiting for your employer to finish an investigation. Our Employment Tribunal team can assess timing alongside the merits of your case.