A mother has won a discrimination case after she was sacked from her job at an engineering firm in Glasgow because of time off due to extreme morning sickness.

A tribunal has awarded a mother £6,479.30 in compensation after she was unfairly dismissed after suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) – a debilitating condition that causes severe vomiting while pregnant.

The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, is also said to have suffered from the same rare condition during all her pregnancies.

Despite suffering from a legitimate condition, confirmed later by her doctor, the woman in this case was laid off due to what her employer said was “a lack of work and the claimant’s alleged unreliability”.

However, the tribunal, ruling in favour of the mother, has concluded that her absences were indeed “a result of a pregnancy-related illness”.

Earlier this year, a nursery worker from Lancashire won a pregnancy discrimination case after receiving unfair treatment from her bosses who questioned whether keeping her baby was a “good idea”, as reported by SPUC.

SPUC comment

A SPUC spokesperson said: “An anti-mother, anti-child ethic is becoming increasingly common, at all levels of employment, implying and even stating directly that there is no place for mothers in the workplace.

“Such a deeply sexist ethic goes hand in hand with the narrative that abortion is the only answer to the ‘problem’ of pregnancy.

“This is a hugely damaging and dangerous belief that, far from empowering women, forces many mothers to make the terrible decision to abort their children.

“We still have much to do to make society and the workplace a more welcoming place for mothers.”

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