Is it allowed to fire a pregnant employee?
What protection does the law provide to pregnant women? Under what conditions is it permissible to fire a pregnant employee? A quick guide for a pregnant woman
Under what conditions is it prohibited to fire a pregnant employee?
A pregnant employee who has been employed for six months is prohibited from being dismissed under Section 9 of the Women’s Employment Act 1954. If the employer still wishes to dismiss, he must request permission from the Ministry of Economy. about dismissal during pregnancy. In the application, he must show that circumstances have arisen in which there is no other choice but to dismiss an employee who is pregnant. The Ministry of Economy will listen to the employer, listen to the employee and decide on dismissal during pregnancy. whether to allow dismissal. While the procedure with the Ministry of Economy is ongoing, and the process can sometimes take several weeks, the employee must continue to work at the workplace and receive a salary. If the employer is a personnel contractor, even a temporary cessation of work will be considered dismissal.
What about an employee who has been on the job for less than six months? Doesn’t the law protect her?
Firstly, in the case of an employee with less than six months of experience, the employer does not need permission from the Ministry of Economy to dismiss a pregnant employee. In addition, a situation may arise when an employer hires a new employee, is not happy with her and therefore wants to say goodbye to her. According to the law and judicial practice, in the first months of work the work is trial, even if it is not defined as such in the formal contract. And therefore, a pregnant employee in such circumstances will not be protected. In principle, the Women’s Labor Law extends its protection to a pregnant employee only from the sixth month of her work (not during her pregnancy). However, if the dismissal is related and made due to pregnancy, that is, the employer finds out about the pregnancy and immediately decides that it is not suitable for him and fires him – this is where the law of equal opportunities at work comes into force. , which prohibits discrimination against an employee because of her pregnancy. Thus, the dismissal of a pregnant woman who has worked in the workplace for less than six months is invalid only if there is a direct connection between the dismissal and the pregnancy. As we explained in previous articles, it is difficult to prove a causal relationship between layoffs and pregnancy; sometimes we prove it depending on the circumstances. For example, when everything was fine before the announcement of pregnancy, and the next day after the announcement, a summons appeared for a pre-dismissal meeting with allegations of dysfunction that had no trace before the announcement of pregnancy in an employee who was on a probationary period, as in the case described above, proving a connection between dismissal and pregnancy will be doubly difficult.
The employer fired the pregnant woman without permission. Should the employee request a return to work or can she seek financial compensation?
According to the labor courts, there is no legal requirement for an employee dismissed in violation of the Women’s Labor Law to actively work to actually return to the workplace. Moreover, it defeats the purpose of the law. The duty to mitigate an employee’s damages, like almost every claim, does not impose a duty on the employee to file a claim in court or to seek a temporary restraining order during pregnancy.
The author is lawyer Tzur Yosef, who practices, among other things, labor law and is a legal consultant for the Dibarot organization. For additional questions and in any individual case, you can contact lawyer Tzur Yosef or using the website system.