New Project: Empowering Women: Pregnancy and Beyond

JobWatch is delighted to be the one of the recipients of generous funding from the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner to address the fact that Victorian pregnant women continue to be dismissed, demoted and discriminated against in the workplace.

February 15, 2024

The launch of the “Empowering Women: Pregnancy and Beyond” Project comes after the release of the 2022 Monash University ‘Understanding Pregnancy Discrimination: A pilot study of Victorian women’s experiences at work’ report based on JobWatch data which found that of the pregnant women who participated in the research:

• 50% of respondents experienced dismissal (including threatened dismissal) or redundancy following announcement of pregnancy
• 45% of respondents experienced changes to their terms and conditions of employment which produced a detriment
• 19% of respondents had employers who refused to accommodate requests for temporary changes to employment to address health and safety concerns

This funding will allow JobWatch to expand their Telephone Information Service and legal representation service to deliver a dedicated frontline response for Victorians experiencing pregnancy, breastfeeding and parental status discrimination in this workplace. With this funding, JobWatch will be able to support many more people who weren’t protected and supported in their workplace at a time of great change in their lives.

This funding will also assist JobWatch in progressing two key law reform asks:

1. Increasing the time limits for discrimination claims in Victoria from 12 months to 24 months, in line with the federal jurisdiction; and
2. Legislating a ‘Discrimination Information Statement’ to be provided to all employees on the commencement of a new job, similar to the ‘Fair Work Information Statement’.

These law reform measures are simple, but will have a strong positive impact on the ability of Victorian pregnant women to recognise discrimination when it happens, and to take action in a meaningful way.

Sign our petition today.

JobWatch encourages all workers with concerns about their rights at work to contact our free and confidential Telephone Information Service on 1800 331 617 (Regional VIC, QLD, TAS) or (03) 9662 1933 (Melbourne Metro).