Should women on maternity leave be invited to every work drinks?
As a mother is given damages for missing her work Christmas party, we ask how companies should behave towards new mothers
7 January 2021 • 1:45pm
A recent case highlights the need for women not to feel left out of the work sphere when they go on maternity
This week, a woman was awarded damages of up to £8,000 after she was not invited to her work’s Christmas drinks while on maternity leave.
During an employment tribunal, Catriona Howie’s former employer, Kitchens by Holloways, argued that the get-together was a last-minute arrangement at a pub after a difficult financial year, and no-one had deliberately intended to exclude her. However, the judge ruled in favour of Howie, who said that the lack of invitation was discriminatory, and pointed out other issues with her maternity leave.
A mother was ‘pressured’ into having a caesarean as a result of her hospital’s ban on partners attending births due to its Covid restrictions – in spite of Government guidance.
Ally Watson, who gave birth to her daughter Alaia-Jayne four weeks ago, was told by hospital staff that she could have her partner with her only if she had a caesarean. Ms Watson wanted a natural birth but felt ‘scared’ to do it alone, and felt ‘backed into a corner’.
The operation, which had complications, saw Ms Watson lose two litres of blood and she will most likely now never be able to have a natural birth. The devastated 25-year-old said of her experience: ‘I now don’t want any more children.’
Getty Images / WIRED
More than 137,000 people in the UK have had their first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine â the start of a long mass vaccination process that will continue well into next year. But there is one group of people who are being advised to avoid taking the vaccine even if they fall within one of the governmentâs nine priority groups for early vaccination: pregnant and breastfeeding women.
The governmentâs official advice states that pregnant women should not receive a Covid-19 vaccine and neither should those who are breastfeeding. In the US and Canada, however, regulators are allowing some pregnant people to make the decision as to whether they have a vaccine or not. So why is there a difference?