help with bad treatment in pregnancy

[kbarrett2707]

Hi everyone,

im hoping you can help me with a situation by friend is in, i had some help from you in my redundancy situation and you guys helped me win my tribunal so thought i would ask about this.

my friend is a self employed hairdresser basically renting a chair from a salon. she is now 14 weeks pregnant and from the moment she told the owner about her pregnancy she has had really bad treatment from this lady. she has also been told she is only needed in one day a week, which leave her with 45 wages a week. what im wondering was, as she is classed as self employed can she raise a complaint to someone higher ? and as this lady is taking bookings on behalf of the people that rent her chairs is it fair that she is not taking any for my friend on purpose as she obviously has a problem with the pregnancy ?

any help would be a great help to get me on the right track to help her, this is effecting her badly as she now has all these extra worries right when she should be at her most happy. she cant sleep and is becoming very depressed about it all

many thanks

kbarrett2707

[Eloise01]

Re: help with bad treatment in pregnancy

I'm afraid that the facts she is self-employed is a huge problem because only employees have employment protections in relation to pregnancy. There is no general law on discrimination during pregnancy, so the owner may be a nasty person, but I cannot see that she is acting outside the law. Is there actually someone higher than the owner - presumably not? In which case I'm afraid there is nobody that she can complain to.

Is there anything in her contract about how clients should be apportioned? What is the nature of this agreement with the owner?

[Cyberprog]

Re: help with bad treatment in pregnancy

I'd advise you to lookup the tests on wether a person is considered to be self-employed, or an employee. If she's self-employed, then I'm afraid she's SOL, it's her own problem, but if she should instead actually be an employee, then it becomes the salon owner's problem, and statutory rights kick in for things like maternity pay, unfair dismissal etc.

[Eloise01]

Re: help with bad treatment in pregnancy

I'd advise you to lookup the tests on wether a person is considered to be self-employed, or an employee. If she's self-employed, then I'm afraid she's SOL, it's her own problem, but if she should instead actually be an employee, then it becomes the salon owner's problem, and statutory rights kick in for things like maternity pay, unfair dismissal etc.

I cannot agree. This particular type of arrangement is custom and practice in this industry. Similar arrangements exist in some other industries - notably the construction sector. These arrangements form separate categories of test, and the general tests used do not apply in these circumstances. But that does not mean that there is nothing at all that may be done - there must be a contract which outlines the arrangments, and it may be possible to approach this purely as a matter of contract law, rather than employment law.

[sassy626]

Re: help with bad treatment in pregnancy

Are there not any general protections for people who are pregnant under the EA in the same way that there are protections for discrimination against breastfeeding women, homosexuals who want to book B&B's etc?

[Eloise01]

Re: help with bad treatment in pregnancy

Yes - but they are not attached to specific actions, unlike the protections stipulated in relation to employment, or even to other characteristics within the Equality Act. So the OP's friend would have to prove that the actions she is complaining of are a result of her pregnancy alone, and not as a result of any other reason. What may be "obvious" in the eyes of the OP or her friend is not evidence in law. So in relation to the examples you cite, someone had to refuse to allow women to breastfeed, or gay people to book into a BB in order for discrimination to be evidenced. This owner is not saying "I refuse to book you appointments because you are pregnant" or "I only need you one day a week because you are pregnant". That is why I suggested going back to the contract - because if the contract stipulates and regulates the relationship and it can be shown that the owner is in breach of the contract, it requires no other evidence to back it up, and does not require the OP's friend to presume motivation. Unfortunately, there are other problems too - in relation to the drafting of the Equality Act, which are incredibly complex and detailed, and difficult to describe on a website such as this, but which basically comes down to the fact that either by ommision or deliberate intent, the Equality Act, s26 prohibits harassment (which is what the OP's friend is complaining of) consisting of unwanted conduct relating to "a relevant protected characteristic". A protected characteristic is only a "relevant" one if it appears on the list in s26(5). "Pregnancy and Maternity" do not appear in the list. And more in relation to section 13 and 18 claims/tests... but this all gets terribly complicated. The bottom line is that it would take legal opinion and a test case to unravel, and possibly several such cases to unravel it entirely.