Despite The Equality Act 2010, a survey of employment law experts by Direct Line Life Insurance has reported a significant increase in disputes where employees’ working hours were reduced when they returned from maternity leave.
According to official figures, the number of employment tribunal claims alleging pregnancy discrimination has risen by 56 per cent in a year.
Increasingly, employers are also using ‘gagging orders’ to ensure confidentiality when they settle pregnancy and maternity related discrimination claims. Over the last 12 months - following pregnancy and maternity-related disputes - 84 per cent of employment law experts have seen an increase in the number of Non-Disclosure Agreements used by employers.
Legal experts have reported a 64 per cent rise - in the last 12 months - of the number of cases where women claim they were demoted upon returning to work following maternity leave.
In addition, there has been an increase in claims made by fathers, with a 63 per cent increase in cases where they have claimed demotion upon returning to work; a 61 per cent increase in disputes relating to promotion whilst on paternity leave; 59 per cent of men claiming unfair dismissal and 58 per cent claiming pay disputes while on paternity leave.
Despite it being a legal right, men are also claiming harassment from employers for taking paternity leave. Legal experts report an increase of 56 per cent in these disputes in the last 12 months.
Jane Morgan - Business Manager at Direct Line Life Insurance - said:
“In today’s world it is concerning that we are seeing an increase in mums and dads being seemingly penalised as a result of spending time with their children. Employers and employees have a responsibility to educate themselves about their rights, which could help to reduce the rise of discrimination claims and ensure parents have reasonable expectations.”
Claire McCartney - Senior Policy Adviser at the CIPD - stated that whilst the removal of tribunal fees may have explained some of the increase, there has also been a greater awareness of maternity and paternity rights. She went on to say:
“Around a third of private sector employers have said it’s reasonable to ask women about their plans to have children in the future in the recruitment process, so we know that that has been happening for some time. The legislation is really helpful, but it’s about creating culture change. Prevention is better than cure, so it’s about organisations talking about the fact they’re not going to discriminate in this area, what their policies are, what their values are, making sure they are modelling these in general.”
Sophie Vanhegan, Partner at GQ Littler - which compiled the figures - expressed surprise at the increase in pregnancy-related cases. She stated:
“I would generally say most sophisticated employers are very, very careful as to what they do when they’re dealing with pregnant employees in the first place. There are obviously employers out there who have not been as rigorous in trying to ensure they deal with such employees lawfully in the past.
Things that may have simply just been accepted in the past are now being seen as unacceptable and people are feeling more confident in being able to challenge them. We’ve certainly seen that companies are seeing these issues called out more often now, and they also feel they have got to be seen to be taking more steps to proactively fix any cultural issues they might have on their side.”
She added that there had been a ‘time lag’ in the change of business culture.
