MPs call for ban on businesses sacking new mums

Thought we'd come a long way since the 1950s?

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by Shanna Jones |
Published on

The Women and Equalities Committee has discovered that there is currently a shocking level of workplace pregnancy discrimination, which has rocketed over the past decade.

The number of mums-to-be forced to leave work has doubled to 54,000 since 2005.

That's 11% of new mums!

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The Committee and MPs have called for a safety net to be in place, much like the model in Germany, in order to protect women from unscrupulous employees.

Those pressurizing hope that changes to the system will include changes to health and safety practices, prevention of discriminatory redundancies and an increase in protection for casual, agency and zero-hours workers.

Maria Miller, the Committee chair and MP for Basingstoke, said: "The arrival of a new baby puts family finances under extreme pressure yet, despite this, thousands of expectant and new mothers have no choice but to leave their work because of concerns about the safety of their child or pregnancy discrimination.

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There are record numbers of women in work in 2016, however some are worried that the economy and families are going to take a serious blow if the government fails to step up to modernise work laws in the UK.

Maria continued that she was worried that the government weren't making new mums enough of an urgent priority:

"[The government] needs to set out a detailed plan outlining the specific actions it will take to tackle this unacceptable level of discrimination.

The government have reportedly said that they're going to have a serious think about it.

Have you ever been the victim of workplace discrimination because of pregnancy? Let us know in the comments on Facebook or Twitter @CloserOnline

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