The House construed the statutory provisions relating to the return of a female employee after maternity leave.
Held: The legislation provided ‘special protection for the security of employment of pregnant women’. ‘It was the Employment Protection Act 1975 that for the first time extended the law to provide protection for the employment of women during pregnancy and after giving birth. In Part II of that Act which is headed ‘ Rights of Employees’, there is a sub-heading ‘ Maternity’. The 1975 Act confers ‘upon a woman a right to return to work after her pregnancy or confinement and a payment to her of maternity pay during her absence, all of which are reenacted in the present Act [1978 Act]. These sections came into effect on the same day as the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 which also extended the protection of the law to women and outlawed many practices which had hitherto placed women at a disadvantage in a society dominated by men. Section 34 (now Section 60) must be seen as part of social legislation passed for the specific protection of women and to put them on an equal footing with men. I have no doubt that it is often a considerable inconvenience for an employer to have to make the necessary arrangements to keep a woman’s job open for her whilst she is absent from work in order to have a baby, but this is a price that has to be paid as part of the social and legal recognition of the equal status of women in the work place.’
References: [1989] AC 20, [1988] 2 WLR 935, [1988] ICR 410, [1988] 2 All ER 129
Judges: Lord Griffiths
Jurisdiction: England and Wales
This case is cited by:
- Cited – Kwik Save Stores Limited v Greaves; Crees v Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited CA 20-Jan-1998
Women had taken extended maternity leave, but having followed the procedures, had been unable for illness to return to work on the day they had notified. The employer then asserted that the claimants had resigned. The EAT had confirm that they had . .
(Gazette 18-Mar-98, Times 05-Mar-98, Gazette 16-Apr-98, , [1998] EWCA Civ 43, [1998] ICR 848)
These lists may be incomplete.
Last Update: 27 November 2020; Ref: scu.194008
