Woman gets $13,000 for sacking over pregnancy

By NAOMI LARKIN

A woman has been awarded nearly $13,000 for losing her job because she became pregnant - but the Human Rights Commission fears she is just one of many.

The Complaints Review Tribunal ordered that D & D Manufacturing in Ellerslie pay the woman $7000 for humiliation, loss of dignity and hurt feelings.

The company was also to pay costs of $3000 and to cover the woman's last week's pay, holiday pay and the further nine weeks she had intended working, totalling nearly $3000.

Proceedings commissioner Chris Lawrence, who took the case to the tribunal, said this was the first complaint involving discrimination against pregnant women to get this far, but it was not uncommon.

"There is a residual level of stereotyped thinking out there about pregnant women. There are some employers who seem to have the attitude that 'I don't want pregnant women in my workplace'."

Of the 599 inquiries made to the commission between last August and yesterday, 44 involved pregnancy discrimination.

This compared with the highest number of inquiries at 191 for sexual harassment and 111 for disability.

D & D Manufacturing took no part in the tribunal hearing or the commission's investigation and yesterday did not return the Herald's calls.

The woman, who was not named in the decision, worked for D & D as a cutter and pattern-maker in 1998.

When she became pregnant her supervisor told her not to tell her employer because he was likely to fire her.

She did tell him and noticed that soon afterwards he began interviewing job applicants.

The woman was too ill to work for two days and when she returned she was dismissed.

She saw one of the job applicants seated at her desk doing her work.

The woman was not given a warning or a reason for her sacking.

Her employer told her he was sick of her problems becoming his problems, the tribunal said.

She was not given holiday pay, her previous week's wages, notice or severance pay.

The woman had been keen to keep working until late in her pregnancy. She became distressed and began suffering panic attacks.

The tribunal said that the way she was dumped was humiliating.

"The first defendant shouted at her to get out of the building as she was saying goodbye to her workmates and collecting her belongings."

Two cases involving pregnancy discrimination, which were laid with the commission between November last year and February this year, were settled before court action.

In one case the woman's employer agreed to pay her $3500.

The second complainant received $3000.