workers rights

sports_brah said:
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Essentially your girlfriend (no marriage?) has made someone pay for her decision, and if its a small business it's going to impact massively upon their financial situation.

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Do you need to be married to have a child together? What's your point?
 
edscdk said:
Seems like a reasonable question, it's not like illness that cannot be avoided or planned for. Perfectly reasonable question for a small business to ask where it will be of real impact.
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It's not reasonable at all, it's illegal as well as it constitutes discrimination on grounds of maternity. No employer unless totally retarded is going to start asking women if they are pregnant at interview, unless they like being in court
 
MrMoonX said:
It's not reasonable at all, it's illegal as well as it constitutes discrimination on grounds of maternity. No employer unless totally retarded is going to start asking women if they are pregnant at interview, unless they like being in court
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Which is why many small businesses avoid employing women of a certain age.

It might not be agreeable, but it is entirely understandable.
 
Dave85 said:
If I was the owner I would also be pretty annoyed in this situation as even if she did not know the owner wont be thinking that.
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No owner wouldn't be hacked off but as a business owner it's one of the hundreds of things you can't do anything about.

You can push your luck and hope that you can squeeze person out quietly, but there's no judge in the country that would rule against the pregnant women, the laws are black and white.
 
malfunkshun said:
Pregnancy and maternity discrimination doesnt have a minimum service time as long as you were either not pregnant when you joined or told the employer that you were pregnant when you joined.
Her employer was required to perform a new risk assessment as soon as your GF told her that she is pregnant. Two things usually follow, either her role is amended to reduce risk or, where this isn't possible, your GF gets suspended on full pay for the duration.
Also, don't forget that our GF is entitled to reasonable paid time off for antenatal care.

The downside is that while it does appear that the boss is being at least a bit of a tool, proving it is....difficult. Tell your GF to keep records of all such goings on in work, especially that 'disciplinary' (which I would note in detail since it is actually utter BS) which appears to have been performed incorrectly and solely as a result of announcing the pregnancy.
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I'll just quickly work this out.
we had dating scan on 23rd June, she was said to be 12 weeks 6 days.
Counting back this would make the date she actually fell pregnant 25th March, which is 6 days before she started working for them (31st march) obviously at this point we did not know (realised/had suspicions after about 4 weeks)

In an ideal world I would just go and have a quiet word with the owner myself and smooth things over, I appreciate it is a small business and I don't expect her to go to the lengths I would expect my employer (massive large corporation) to go to for their pregnant employees. (although the law states that she should)
I don't know the woman at all though so not sure how she would react, I do genuinely get the feeling she is in a little over her head by some of the things she has said/done. trying to discipline for example with incorrect facts and without any prior warning. generally making GFs life difficult etc.

It doesn't help that GF takes EVERYTHING personally and she does want to wage war with this woman :(
 
If those dates are accurate there would be no reasonable expectation to know.
She didn't have to tell her boss at all until the 15th week before the estimated date of confinement (280 days from the last 'cycle' then fifteen weeks before that), however it is always advisable to tell the employer as soon as you are able for H&S reasons, disciplinary reasons, to allow your employer time to plan for it and just straight up common courtesy.
 
correct me if i'm wrong and the law has changed but if she hasn't worked there for a year she has no rights - she can be sacked and no reason has to be given.
 
actually i think i am wrong - unfair dismissal on maternity related grounds doesn't seem to need the full year service (which is now 2 years apparently).
 
MassiveJim said:
I'll just quickly work this out.
we had dating scan on 23rd June, she was said to be 12 weeks 6 days.
Counting back this would make the date she actually fell pregnant 25th March, which is 6 days before she started working for them (31st march)
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You are entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) as long as you started the job at least a week before you became pregnant
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ouch ;) this is from 2011 though.. http://www.advicenow.org.uk/advicen...y/what-maternity-pay-will-i-get,10187,FP.html

from reading that she wont get maternity pay ( which is payed by the boss and the boss claims it back)
she'd get maternity allowance which i think she'd claim direct from the Gov herself and possably wont be as much as SMP
 
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aardvark said:
actually i think i am wrong - unfair dismissal on maternity related grounds doesn't seem to need the full year service (which is now 2 years apparently).
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yeah two years, nasty amendment that.
However, as you point out, various discrimination cases are automatically unfair and not subject to that period.
 
MassiveJim


My GF started work for a small café locally at the end of March this year.

She told the owner 2 weeks ago that she was 12 weeks pregnant and ever since then her attitude has completely changed towards my GF,

right at the start of her employment my GF took 3 days of sick on 2 separate occasions and then nothing until a single day off last week (morning sickness)


STOP:
1: her employer is right quote:right at the start of her employment my GF took 3 days of sick on 2 separate occasions ( to my maths 3 days x 2 separate occasions =6 days)

2:your gf only told the boss 2 weeks ago she is 12 weeks preg thats not good,what if your gf had to do any heavy lifting etc and something happens to the baby ? also if the boss did not know your gf was pregnant untill two weeks ago to her it seems that your gf was just taking time off.

for what i have read and my understanding am sorry to say your gf would not have much of an claim for unfair dismissal at this point
the employer don't need any witnesses to be their at the disciplinary meeting


We really can't afford for her to just walk out on the job as that means her income for the next 4/5 months will be reduced :

STOP : the last time i looked into this its 6 months before you can claim dole again if you walk out of an job .

and on principal I don't want this café owner to "win"
GF is very hard working and very friendly, customers generally like her wherever she works and she knows how to treat people and make them repeat customer
 
chillidog said:
STOP:
1: her employer is right quote:right at the start of her employment my GF took 3 days of sick on 2 separate occasions ( to my maths 3 days x 2 separate occasions =6 days)
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I meant she took 3 days off total on 2 separate occasions.
1st instance, 1 day off sick
2nd instance 2 days off with family trouble :)
 
Employer is in breach of the equality act 2010, your missus should talk to her employer to highlight her rights as a first measure. If this is unsuccessful I'd suggest she contact ACAS. Discrimination issues have no minimum time served - workers rights are different to discrimination issues.

As a small business owner I wouldn't dream of treating an employee as such - these are things you should budget for. If you can't afford to then your business plan is garbage.

People get pregnant, pregnant women need time off to keep themselves healthy.
 
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You won't know entitlement to SMP until she has the MATB1 because it has the required date for the employer to use to work it out. That will tell you if the law considered her pregnant when she started.

If it is a small employer, they actually get paid more back than they pay out in SMP. So the only cost is a negligible number of paid hours for ant e natal appointments, which she can negate through rota. And accrued annual leave during the maternity leave period, which is minor as it would have accrued anyway. Oh and the 2 hours it takes someone to comprehensively train a cafe worker :D
 
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