Maternity Rights According to Employment Law Solicitors
Posted by seo Over the past year employment law solicitors have witnessed the surge in Employment Tribunal cases. The number of cases has increased by over 50% and the recession, they say, is partly to blame. It is the opinion of many employment law solicitors that cost cutting brought about by the recession is behind recent high numbers of redundancies.
Sadly, it has been suggested that women are feeling the effects of redundancy more than men, leading many women to take advice from employment law solicitors relating to ex discrimination. They are not unjustified in doing so, according to many legal professionals.
Often, women who have taken advantage of maternity leave and pay, which is their legal right, are the ones to find themselves in the firing line when redundancies become necessary. When redundancies have to be made, it is sometimes the case that the very criteria an employer might use to decide who to let go could be fundamentally discriminatory. For example, a company might look for employees willing to ‘go the extra mile,’ which almost always means staying at work late or willingness to entertain clients in the evening. For women who have children these criteria can be considered to be inherently discriminatory.
Employment law solicitors point out that a pregnant job applicant is not obliged to tell a potential employer about their pregnancy. Similarly, it is illegal for an employer to enquire whether a candidate is pregnant or to deny her a job on the grounds that she is. An employer who enquires about a candidate’s future plans for a family is considered by employment law solicitors to be on shaky ground.
Women who believe they have been made redundant as a result of discrimination should collect as much evidence as they possibly can, say employment law solicitors. This might include internal memos and e-mails. They also advise asking questions of an employer using the statutory discrimination questionnaire. Employers have eight weeks to complete it and failure to respond, or falsification of answers reflect very badly in Employment Tribunal cases.
