Pregnancy discrimination has long been illegal in Australia and
it is one form of discrimination that society rejects most
strongly. However, notwithstanding this rejection, there is still
significant amounts of pregnancy discrimination in the
workforce.
Thankfully the obvious forms of pregnancy discrimination are
rare, although still present – for example, in Sagona v R
& C Piccoli Investments Pty Ltd & Ors [2014]
FCCA 875 a pregnant employee was told it was 'was not a
good look' for customers to see a pregnant woman working and
she could no longer conduct photoshoots – and the more
prevalent forms of pregnancy discrimination are more subtle.
Discrimination can start with comments by supervisors, such as
that parental leave was a 'holiday' or that an
employee's need to leave to collect a child was a burden on
other employees. This conduct is illegal however it is often
difficult for an employee to obtain a remedy because making a
complaint can be seen as rocking
