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Your
Rights at Work
Men and women have the
right not to be discriminated against because of their sex, in many
aspects of their working life - from their recruitment and promotion
prospects and how much they are paid, to all aspects of how they are
treated by an employer and their colleagues, including when pregnant,
and if they are dismissed.
Pregnancy
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You
will be paid for time off at antenatal classes
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You
should continue to receive pay rises and most bonuses during ordinary
maternity leave. Pension contributions will continue during this
time
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During
maternity leave you will either be entitled to maternity pay –
paid by your employer – or, depending on your earnings,
to maternity allowance – paid by Social Security
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You
cannot be legally dismissed because you are pregnant or for reasons
connected with your pregnancy or maternity leave
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You
should be offered the same training and promotion opportunities
as other staff while pregnant
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You
should be allowed to keep the same duties and responsibilities
while pregnant
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You
must be allowed to return to your own job unless this is genuinely
not possible (e.g. redundancy situation) when you should be offered
a suitable alternative.
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You
and your baby must be protected from risks to your health at work
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Your
employer needs to carry out a health and safety risk assessment.
Possible risks include: Unduly stressful work, Working alone,
Working in awkward work positions, Unnecessary travelling.
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You
should have a suitable place where you can rest and later breast
feed
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You
are entitled to 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave
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Additional
maternity leave is 26 weeks, which starts from the end of ordinary
maternity leave. You will be entitled to take additional maternity
leave if you have worked for your employer for 26 weeks by the
15th week before your baby is due.
Equal
Pay
The Equal Pay Act means that
people should be paid the same regardless of their gender. You have
a right not to be paid less than someone of the opposite sex doing the
same, or nearly the same, work in the same organisation. You also have
the right to equal pay for work which you consider to be of equal value
to that done by a colleague of the opposite sex in the same employment.
Sexual
Harrassment
You have a legal right
under the Sex Discrimination Act not to be sexually harassed whilst
at work. The Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) makes it unlawful for
employers in Great Britain to subject a man or women to sexual harassment.
It is also unlawful to harass someone because they intend to undergo,
are undergoing, or have undergone gender reassignment.
Harassment
is where there is unwanted conduct on the ground of a person's sex
or unwanted conduct of a sexual nature and that conduct has the purpose
or effect of violating a person's dignity, or of creating an intimidating,
hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.
If an employer treats someone less favourably because they have rejected,
or submitted to, either form of harassment described above, this is
also harassment.
Direct sex discrimination is less favourable treatment
of a woman than a man (or vice versa) because of their sex. This may
apply if you have complained of sexual harassment and your employer
has dealt with your complaint in a less favourable way than they would
have dealt with the complaint of a man.
Indirect sex discrimination occurs when a provision,
criterion or practice is applied equally to both women and men but,
in fact, would adversely affect more women than men and is not genuinely
necessary. This type of discrimination may only rarely be applicable
to sexual harassment.
Victimisation: You must not be treated less favourably
compared to others because you acted in good faith to assert your
rights under the SDA. You will have a victimisation claim if your
employer treats you less favourably than another employee because
you have complained of sexual harassment: for example, if your employer
dismisses you or does not promote you because of your complaint.
Recruitment
The Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) makes it unlawful for an employer
to discriminate because of a person's sex or marital status when
appointing someone to a post:
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in
the arrangements made for deciding who should be offered the job
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in
relation to any terms offered, such as pay, holidays, or working
conditions
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by
rejecting an applicant or by deliberately avoiding consideration
of an applicant.
The
'arrangements' for deciding who should be offered a job include:
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the
job description
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the
person specification, which is an assessment of the essential
skills, experience and qualifications required to carry out the
job
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the
advertisement (this includes staff notices and circulars, jobs
advertised in shop windows, as well as newspapers and magazines,
the internet, TV and radio)
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the
application form
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short
listing
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the
interview
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Dismissal
and Redundancy
Employees have the right not to be dismissed or selected for redundancy
because of their gender or marital status.
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