My Girlfriend is now Pregnant & After 1 Year Still Has No Employment Contract

Hi All,

My girlfriend has been working for same company for over 1 year now. She works for a Retail company and spends most days driving around the country. Despite multiple pleas to her employer she still has no employment contract.

We have just found out that she is pregnant and is suffering from morning sickness, making her work very difficult for her. She wants to tell her employer this morning so that:

a) Her employer might cut back on the amount of travel she is doing and restructure her work so that she could do more of it from their office.
b) She might be able to take some of her remaining annual leave (maybe 1 day per week) for the next few weeks - to shorten the working week and make it easier for her.

However, she's now concerned that her employer won't react well when told she's pregnant and want to know what her rights are...(given she still has no contract and has been asking for it for over 1 year!).

Any advice?

Legally,
(1) the company are obliged to complete a health & safety risk assessment once they are informed about the pregnancy. see [broken link removed] . If this assessment identifies any risks then they must explore ways of accomodating your girlfriend in order to address those risks.
(2) they cannot dismiss someone without reason once they have one years service and they cannot dismiss anyone, whatever their service, because of their pregnancy.
(3) your girlfirend may want to take advice from her GP as to their opinion on what she is fit or not fit to do. She may want to share that advice with the company as part of the risk assessment.
Its difficult to say without knowing the company but you should be aware of health & safety leave (see above link for further info). If the company conclude that they cannot manage the risks and do not have any suitable alternative work, they are only obliged to pay the employee for 3 weeks - after that your girlfriend will be looking to welfare for benefit

You keep mentioning the contract - is there anything in particular that you think is relevant in this?

Having worked for more than 12 months with the same employer, she has permancy of employment and has the full protection of employment legislation. Sher should check out her rights at NERA. She certainlyn should have had a contract by now, but her rights are no less regardless. [broken link removed]

I don't know whether the employer has any duty to make her workload easier for the duration of her pregnancy, but if she's not fit for work she'd have to go sick and this is something a good employer would want to avoid. Some work from an employee is better than no work.

She needs to speak to her employer to work something out but, bottom line, she can't be sacked.

Congratulations by the way.

@greenfield @staples

Thanks very much for the info, much appreciated.

We were worried that because she hadn't received / signed her contract she may have been at a disadvantage / make things more difficult.

Guess we'll wait and see how the risk assessment goes and take it from there. Hopefully the sickness will pass soon anyways.

Thanks again.

Without her contract the girlfriend has no evidence of the company's maternity leave benefits agreed when she started working there.
While the 1 year service gives her full protection what about the specific maternity benefits of the company?
Eg the contract could say she is entitled to 20 weeks full pay on maternity leave however now that she has no signed contract in her possession the company could say they are not paying her maternity full pay and she will only get the social welfare maternity payment.
She has no proof without a contract signed of what had been originally agreed when she took the job.

First of all, congratulations!

The only advantage of having an employment contract is if there was something promised at interview above and beyond normal terms and conditions.

Even if she does not have a contract, if there is a dispute, she will be in a fairly good position as her word would be believed ahead of her employer, as he has been negligent in not giving her a contract.

Most companies do not pay maternity leave so she should not expect this.

If it is her company's policy to pay maternity leave, then not having a contract won't disadvantage her. She can claim it as part of the general practice of the company.

It is a good general idea to notify your employer as soon as possible. In the unlikely event that your employer is considering any sort of disciplinary action or changes, he will be much more reluctant to do it once she has notified him that she is pregnant.

+1 to what Brendan says. The company is in breach of its statutory obligations in not providing some form the written terms of your girlfriend's employment.

Are there written policies and procedures in the workplace? If there are have your girlfriend check what the applicable maternity policy is. If not, the previous practice will count. Have other employees been afforded maternity benefit?

You are welcome bluebox. As other contributors have said, the employer is much more disadvataged by the absence of a written contract. Your rights with regards to dismissal, health & safety and maternity are set out in law and apply whether there is a written contract or not.
Congratulations.

Rights with regard to dismissal, health and safety and maternity leave are set out in law and apply regardless of the existence of a written contract.

The payment of maternity pay by your employer while on maternity leave however is dependent on the contract of employment or on the policies of the employer company, whether written or created by custom and practice.

Thanks v much again for the additional comments folks.

All went well when she told her employer. They do not pay for maternity leave (she knew this already as some colleagues are on Maternity leave already).

All very exciting now!

Good luck with the new addition to the family!

Congratz for everything going fine and for the new addition to the family. Good luck for future.