Pregnancy is no reason to get fired

MejlaIngvar Persson+ FÖLJÅSIKTGraviditet is no reason to get sparkenArbetslivet need more security - not less Aftonbladet leader board independent social democratic.Photo: Sara Ringström / AFTONBLADET / 1716LEDARE

the Law is clear. Employers may not discriminate against employees on the grounds of pregnancy or maternity leave. Yet it happens time and time again.

Newspaper Work has gone through the cases that have ended up in the labour court in recent years. The last target was settled for only a few weeks ago. It was about a woman who told me that she was pregnant while she wrote on the contract of employment.

Later the manager said that she handled the whole thing on a ”damn ugly”. The same day that she came home from giving birth, she was told that her probationary period would be interrupted prematurely.

Difficult to prove discrimination

labour court do not think it is proven that it really is all about discrimination. Trial periods may be terminated without the employer need give no reasons.

To Work, " says Julia DeMarinis Giddings on the discrimination Ombudsman, DO, that it is often difficult to show that an interrupted probationary period is really associated with pregnancy.

Notifications if action continues to come in both to the unions and to DO. When it comes to discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy ends it is often in the settlements. Many employers realize both that it is hard to talk away that it is about gender discrimination and that the risk of bad publicity is huge.

Discrimination is still alive

It means that many cases end with a financial settlement, but not to the woman get back to the job she should have had. It also means that the very structure in which pregnancy and parenthood - and thus women - be regarded as a problem can continue to exist in many workplaces.

A trade union lawyer to Work have spoken with, Sofia Wolff of the Union, recommend to women, if possible, to keep quiet about her pregnancy until they have had a permanent job. It says itself that it is a piece of advice that is often impossible to follow, not least, a labour market with precarious forms of employment.

It is just the labour market, many young women find themselves in.

So we can't actually have it.

Probably need anti-discrimination legislation should be tightened. The control of how the is also followed. But will equality have a chance is necessary, above all, a working life with more security, not less.