Empowering Women: Pregnancy and Beyond

The 2022 Monash University ‘Understanding Pregnancy Discrimination: A pilot study of Victorian women’s experiences at work’ report based on JobWatch data 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

To address the experiences and legal gaps detailed in the report, JobWatch runs the Empowering Women: Pregnancy and Beyond Project, providing legal advice and representation to eligible Victorian women. Through this Project, we support Victorian women who are experiencing pregnancy discrimination, breastfeeding discrimination, and parental and carer status discrimination in the workplace. This includes information, referrals, advice and representation through discrimination claims, underpayments claims, unfair dismissal claims, and General Protections Disputes.

Through this Project, we are also seeking support for our 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’.

Support our advocacy efforts today by signing our petition – Click here for more information

Referrals to the Empowering Women: Pregnancy and Beyond Project is an internal process through our Telephone Information Service (TIS). We recommend that all Victorian workers contact the TIS for legal information in the first instance.

We thank the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner for their generosity in supporting this important work.