Australian Human Rights Commission finds huge workplace discrimination against pregnant staff

[Newshound]

PREGNANT women are being bullied at work, telling a national review of their working conditions that they are expressing milk in toilets, being criticised for toilet breaks and even forced to put their unborn babies at risk.

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[Tiger]

Until I left the big corporate world and started advising small businesses, I wouldn't have believed this but alas, it is true. Worse, there are employers out there so ignorant they actually ask how can they get around hiring young women "because they'll just go off and have kids". As horrible as it sounds, it is happening. Whilst no excuse, I can see the other side of this issue which is, simply, some businesses are really struggling to stay afloat and even being able to hire a replacement for P/L is a cost they don't want to consider so they see the whole thing as an imposition on them. I must say, the worst offenders are the older 'ocker macho type blocks' who give me lip when I point out they can't legally do something. Another issue is the complicated wording of a lot of legislation; they don't understand it because it is just not in plain English. So much more education and communication needs to be done, I don't think the answer is levying more fines because they'll just close their doors and then more will be out of work. Tiger

[Tasman McManis]

I agree with Tiger that there is considerable anecdotal evidence that small business is not keen to hire women of child bearing age especially when they can have up to two years away from the work place. The rate of change today means that after two years you could return to a totally different workplace. It is very difficult to identify and stop this type of discrimanatory behaviour.

Perhaps it is time to consider a paradigm shift. Make it easier for those on parental leave to attend their workplace on a regular basis with childcare facilities provided within the workplace under revised regulations. Regular would be something agreed between the workplace and the employee.
This type of arrangement would allow the employee to continue to engage in the workplace, keep up with changes and developments and provide the workplace with some continuity of the persons skills and experience. I acknowledge that for some jobs that these type of arrangements would be difficult to impliment. As Tiger mention, I don't think bigger fines will solve the issue.