Pregnant Marketing Director Wins Discrimination Claim

Mrs Shipp, who was a Marketing Director at CitySprint, was awarded £30,000 by the Employment Tribunal after winning her maternity and sex discrimination claim. 

During her pregnancy, Mrs Shipp’s male colleagues made a number of unwanted comments that generated a humiliating and degrading environment for her, such as; questions about whether her pregnancy was planned and jokes about how much weight she would gain during her pregnancy. 

When Mrs Shipp went on maternity leave in June 2019, CitySprint decided to restructure and redundancies were made. This, along with colleagues resigning, resulted in Mrs Shipp being the only remaining member of the group executive team. Whilst these huge changes were taking place, CitySprint failed to inform Mrs Shipp as she was on maternity leave. 

After being told via email that she was being laid off, Mrs Shipp raised a grievance in December 2019 but it was dismissed. Following this, she wrote to her commercial director in March 2020 expressing her aggravation that she has been put under immense stress and anxiety during her maternity leave. 

Then, in September 2020, Mrs Shipp was sacked after refusing to do her old Marketing Director role for a much lower salary and under a lesser title. It was later revealed that other male co-workers who also changed job roles did not receive a pay cut and this contributed towards the Employment Tribunal’s ruling that Mrs Shipp’s dismissal was unfair and the awarding compensation for ‘injury to feelings’ for maternity and sex discrimination.

What should employees know about maternity discrimination?

Whilst the majority of employees are aware that gender is a ‘Protected Characteristic’ under The Equality Act 2010 (The EA) and if they are treated less favourably because of their gender then they can make a sex discrimination claim, many do not realise that pregnancy and maternity are also Protected Characteristics. 

Pregnancy or maternity discrimination is a specific type of discrimination, which is made unlawful by The EA and it is separate and distinct from sex discrimination. The start of a woman’s pregnancy to the end of their maternity leave is referred to as the ‘protected period’ and during this time, Section 18 of The EA makes any unfavourable treatment direct discrimination. It is worthwhile noting that under Section 13 of The EA, there will be sex discrimination where a woman is treated less favourably for breastfeeding too. 

The case above is a clear example of how women can win sex and maternity discrimination claims when they are taken to the Employment Tribunal, and if you have experienced discriminatory behaviour, you should not hesitate to make a claim. It is worth noting that the timing for this type of discrimination claim is important though and usually you will be required to make a claim within three months less one day of the discriminatory behaviour or conduct.

When making a pregnancy or maternity discrimination claim, you need to establish ‘clear facts’ that can be used by an Employment Tribunal to conclude that discrimination has taken place. It is then down to your employer to justify the course of action and give a good reason for the action that is not motivated by pregnancy or maternity. Should they be unable to supply this justification, the Tribunal will conclude discrimination and you will win your case. 

Getting assistance with a maternity discrimination claim 

Understandably, there is a lot to get your head around relating to sex discrimination claims, let alone pregnancy and maternity discrimination claims, so it is always beneficial to turn to an employment law specialist for some tailored legal advice. They will be able to help you establish whether you can bring a claim to the Employment Tribunal and, if you can, they will be able to assist you throughout all legal proceedings. 

If you would like to speak to someone about your experience of sex discrimination or maternity discrimination, please do not hesitate to contact us here at Nationwide Employment Lawyers. We will gladly provide you with the initial advice you need and should you wish to make a claim, we will support you from start to finish. We pride ourselves on making employment law issues less stressful for our clients and we have a superb record in representing our clients and helping them achieve the best possible result. You can trust that you will be in experienced hands with our team of experts, so get in touch today to discuss discrimination in much more detail.