Employee always pregnant

[PTP]

I am a small business employer. We have an employee who has worked for us since she was 17 and has been pregnant each year she has worked for us. She already had a child when she begun working for us too. She's now 22 and announced she's having another baby. This is having a strain on our business, as she has spent proximately 4 of the last 5 years of employment, on maternity leave - soon to be 5 of 6 years. Is there any grounds for dismissal?

[dan_1207]

Re: Employee always pregnant

For being pregnant? No, there isn't.

[judgemental24]

Re: Employee always pregnant

I just cannot believe someone would even consider dismissing an employee for what is a natural bodily function

You go down that road and you will find yourself in front of an Employment Tribunal

That is Direct Discrimination

[dan_1207]

Re: Employee always pregnant

And a protected, legal right.

[teaboy2]

Re: Employee always pregnant

Find it hard to see how it can cause a strain on your business, when you can apply to recover maternity pay costs from HMRC, or if your not in a position to afford to pay maternity pay as well as pay staff for covering the hours the pregnant worker would have otherwise worked, you can apply to the HMRC for what is basically and advance to cover the maternity pay. Basically the state pays 92-93% of maternity pay the employer pays the rest, but its up to the employer to apply for such relief to be able to then deduct 92-93% of what they paid in maternity pay from their annual taxes or national insurance payments!

I find it absurd that you could even consider dismissing this employee just because she's pregnant. That line of thought is sexually discriminative towards women as a whole. If your business is struggling, i can guarantee it is not the fault of this employee, and you should look elsewhere for the cause!

[Trev1234]

Re: Employee always pregnant

I did wonder what the responses would be when I first saw this post. Gulp!