Can I Be Dismissed While Pregnant?

Your employer must not dismiss you because you are pregnant or because you are taking or plan to take maternity leave. A dismissal for these reasons is automatically unfair and is pregnancy discrimination, whatever your length of service. Pregnancy does not stop your employer dismissing you for a genuine reason with no link to the pregnancy.

Automatically unfair dismissal

Section 99 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, read with regulation 20 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999, makes a dismissal automatically unfair where the reason, or the principal reason, relates to your pregnancy, the fact that you have given birth or your maternity leave.

You do not need two years' service to bring this claim. You are covered from your first day of employment. The tribunal does not ask whether the dismissal was reasonable. The question is why your employer dismissed you.

Pregnancy and maternity discrimination

Section 18 of the Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to treat you unfavourably because of your pregnancy, or because of an illness caused by the pregnancy, during the protected period. The protected period starts when the pregnancy begins and ends when your maternity leave ends, or earlier if you return to work. Without a right to maternity leave, it ends two weeks after the end of the pregnancy.

Section 18 also covers unfavourable treatment after the protected period where the reason is the pregnancy during that period. You do not need to compare yourself with a colleague. Unfavourable treatment because of the pregnancy is enough. Discrimination claims need no qualifying service.

Your right to written reasons

Section 92(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 entitles you to a written statement of the reasons for your dismissal if you are dismissed while pregnant, or after childbirth where the dismissal brings your maternity leave to an end. You do not need to ask for it, and length of service does not matter.

Read the stated reason closely. A reason that is vague, changes over time or appears only after you announced the pregnancy is evidence a tribunal will examine.

When a dismissal can still be lawful

Your employer can dismiss you for a reason genuinely unconnected with the pregnancy, such as gross misconduct proven through a fair process or a genuine redundancy. The pregnancy must play no part in the decision. Timing matters. A dismissal soon after you announce the pregnancy, with no earlier concerns raised, calls for a clear explanation from your employer.

Where the dismissal is for redundancy, you also have a priority right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy, if one exists. Ordinary unfair dismissal rules still apply to an unrelated reason. These need two years' service for dismissals before 1 January 2027. If you would have been dismissed anyway, compensation for a procedural failure can be reduced, even to nothing.

Changes planned for 2027

GOV.UK lists enhanced rules on the dismissal of pregnant women and new mothers among the measures to take effect in 2027. The Employment Rights Act 2025 allows the government to set, by regulations, the circumstances in which it will be fair to dismiss a pregnant woman or new mother. The detailed rules have not yet been published in final form. GOV.UK states that all future dates remain subject to parliamentary processes and may change.

An example and your time limit

A dental nurse with five months' service tells her practice manager she is pregnant. One week later she is dismissed for "not fitting in", with no earlier warnings or meetings. She can claim automatically unfair dismissal under section 99 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and pregnancy discrimination under section 18 of the Equality Act 2010. Her employer must give her written reasons without being asked.

Acas states that time limits for employment tribunal claims increased from 3 months to 6 months on 1 October 2026. The 3 month limit may still apply to problems that started before 1 October 2026. Check your deadline early and seek advice.

What to do next

1. Keep the email, message or note showing when you told your employer you were pregnant.
2. Write down every change in treatment after that date, with names and dates.
3. Keep any written reasons for the dismissal and every version of the reason given.
4. Collect your appraisals, performance records and any praise received before the announcement.
5. Appeal the dismissal in writing within the deadline your employer gives.
6. Start ACAS Early Conciliation well before your tribunal deadline.

The order of events often decides these claims. Write down the date you told your employer about the pregnancy and every date that followed, and keep a copy.

Frances N.U