IVF Treatment – when are your employees protected?
27 January 2010
Statistics show that the number of couples undergoing IVF treatment is increasing rapidly. It follows from this that employers are increasingly likely to come across employees undergoing IVF and it is important for employers to understand what protection such employees are afforded in law.
A woman undergoing IVF treatment is considered to be pregnant at the time the embryo is implanted and from that time the Sex Discrimination Act provides automatic protection from discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy (i.e. no need for a male comparator or to prove that a male would have been treated more favourably). This continues until 2 weeks after the end of the pregnancy if the implantation eventually fails or until the end of maternity leave if it is successful.
In the case of Sahota v The Home Office and Pipkin [2009] the Claimant argued that the entire process of IVF treatment should amount to ‘pregnancy’ and therefore afford women automatic protection under the Sex Discrimination Act. The EAT disagreed with Mrs Sahota’s view but did rule that it would amount to sex discrimination to treat a woman at an advanced stage of IVF treatment less favourably simply because she was receiving that treatment. A woman will therefore also have automatic protection during the time between the collection of the ova and immediate first implantation of the fertilised ova.
Other than in relation to the advanced stages of IVF treatment, less favourable treatment on the grounds that an employee is undergoing IVF treatment (before she is pregnant) will not amount to sex discrimination unless it can be shown that a man in similar circumstances would have been treated more favourably (e.g. with regard to sickness absence).
Latest Events
- September 2010
Forthcoming Events
