Equality Commission Northern Ireland

TEL 028 90 500 600

Employers & service providers

Delivering equality

Want to stay on the right side of the law? We support businesses and public authorities and help them to promote good practice.

Pregnancy & maternity

What you need to know

ECNI
Pregnancy and maternity at work Pregnant women and new mothers have legal employment rights which are designed to protect their health and safety and that of their expected or new-born children. These rights also protect their contractual terms and conditions of employment and are designed to prevent unlawful discrimination. Pregnant women and new mothers have the right to: paid time-off for ante-natal care maternity leave maternity pay protection from unfair treatment or dismissal

Pregnancy and maternity at work

Pregnant women and new mothers have legal employment rights which are designed to protect their health and safety and that of their expected or new-born children. These rights also protect their contractual terms and conditions of employment and are designed to prevent unlawful discrimination.

Pregnant women and new mothers have the right to:

paid time-off for ante-natal care
maternity leave
maternity pay
protection from unfair treatment or dismissal

NEW - Read our advice note on Protecting pregnant employees working during the Covid-19 pandemic

Guidance for employers
As an employer, never try to avoid these legal duties by simply refusing to employ any pregnant women, new mothers or women of child bearing age. Such a policy would certainly amount to sex, pregnancy or maternity discrimination and is likely to be unlawful.

Helpful topics
As an employer you will need to ensure that you, and your managers, understand your legal duties, are committed to fulfilling them and make decisions in a reasoned, consistent and fair manner. The following topics provide guidance on specific issues relating to pregnancy and maternity:

Download our full guidance:

Pregnancy and maternity at work – a guide for employers in Northern Ireland (pdf, 3.2mb, 2016)

This guidance was produced in partnership with the Labour Relations Agency

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< Employers & Service Providers	Pregnancy discrimination >

How we can help

We believe that helping you promote and encourage good equal opportunities practice is as important as enforcing the equality law. Every year, the Commission helps hundreds of businesses and organisations comply with equality laws.

We recognise that employers' needs differ across sectors and businesses – so we tailor our services to meet employers’ varying needs.

Training

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	Training sessions include: • Introduction to understanding equality • Equality training for line managers • Recruiting fairly • Bullying and harassment at work • Pregnancy, maternity and flexible working • Mental ill-health at work • Promoting disability in the workplace • Reasonable steps defence • How to complete an Article 55 Review • Monitoring form workshops

In-house training

Speakers for your event

Employer news ezine

For further information download our guide for employers:

Pregnancy and maternity at work - a guide for employers (pdf)

Flexible working model policy (pdf)

The right to request flexible working - a guide for employers (pdf)

Unified guide to promoting equality (pdf)

Equal Pay - Code of Practice (pdf)

If you are looking for a particular publication, you can search our publications database

The Commission also provides training seminars covering pregnancy and maternity issues in the workplace.

Additional Resources:

Department for Employment and Learning