Hours Cut When Pregnant (Zero Hour Contract)

jimmylad007

Hi. I'm looking for some advice for my wife who has had her hours cut after announcing she is pregnant.

She works in a restaurant and previously did around 25-30 hours, which were split between cooking in the kitchen and waitressing.

After announcing her pregnancy, her hours were immediately halved, as she was no longer given any kitchen shifts, only the waitressing. Upon questioning this, she was told that would no longer be getting any kitchen shifts for her own safety, due to her being pregnant and working in a hot kitchen.

She then went back and said that she is still willing to work in the kitchen, and needs her hours putting back up. But she was told that as she's only on a zero hour contract, they do not have to give her any specific number of hours, they can give her what they want.

Is there anything that can be done?

NYM

Her employer will have carried out a risk assessment and made 'reasonable adjustments' to her working conditions. It's for her own protection and that of the baby.

It doesn't matter that she wants to work in the kitchen - they are taking the view that it wouldn't be advisable for her.

Crazy_Jamie

NYM wrote: »

Her employer will have carried out a risk assessment and made 'reasonable adjustments' to her working conditions. It's for her own protection and that of the baby.

The duty to make reasonable adjustments in a discrimination context only applies to disability. Of course a duty of care exists in any event, but it's worth clarifying that the term 'reasonable adjustments', insofar as it applies in an employment/discrimination sense, does not apply to pregnancy.

jimmylad007 wrote:

She then went back and said that she is still willing to work in the kitchen, and needs her hours putting back up. But she was told that as she's only on a zero hour contract, they do not have to give her any specific number of hours, they can give her what they want.

In most scenarios that is true, but the difference in this case is that they have reduced her hours explicitly because she is pregnant. That is potentially discrimination under sections 13 and 18 of the Equality Act 2010 (the former is blanket direct discrimination, the second is discrimination due to pregnancy).

In order for the employer's actions to amount to discrimination they must have treated your wife unfavourably because she is pregnant. Your wife will say that she can still work in the kitchen, and therefore her treatment is unfavourable. Whether or not they have really comes down to whether their view that it is not safe for her to work in the kitchen is well founded or not. There is then a secondary argument that even if their view is well founded, the treatment is still unfavourable in the absence of them finding additional hours for her in waitressing, but the success of that argument would depend on a number of factors that we have no information about her.

Of course, knowing what the law is and dealing with a situation practically are two different things. The fact that the employer has fallen back on the 'you're on a zero hours contract so we can give you whatever hours we want to' line is concerning because it suggests that they may not want to engage with this issue, quite apart from the fact that they cannot solely rely on that here. The next step practically should be for your wife to ask for an explanation as to why it is not safe for her to work in a hot kitchen and/or raise a grievance about the reduction in hours. That should at least get her a proper explanation justifying why her hours have been cut. She can then consider her next steps from that point onwards.

jimmylad007

Thanks for the advice folks. She works for a large national company with hundreds of restaurants, rather than a single location business, so we're thinking of speaking to the head office if her manager refuses to help.

This is her second pregnancy, and a few years ago when she was pregnant for the first time, she continued to work her hours as normal throughout the pregnancy. This was in the same role and for the same manager. We can't understand why it's such a big issue the second time round, but it wasn't the first time.

Our main concern really is the fact that due to the lack of hours, she now isn't earning the minimum of £112 a week to qualify for statutory maternity pay Although she did more than enough hours previously, she's been told that it only gets based on recent pay periods during the pregnancy.

At the moment we're just scraping by after making cut backs and emptying out our very small amount of savings. But if she doesn't get SMP, we're going to be in trouble. I work full time but sadly I don't earn enough on my own to get us by.

We're easily able to prove that the drop in hours came at the time the pregnancy was announced. We have years of her wage slips that show 25-30 hours a week, then the sudden to 10-15 the week following her hospital appointment after which she informed her manager of her pregnancy.

roxy7699

Hi,

I agree that you should take this up with head office HR as it is a big company they may not be aware, do you have a copy of the contract at all? Does it state zero hours on it?
I think you could challenge that if she has been working the same hours for the last few years it is now an implied contract at 25-30 hours.

The calculation for entitlement to SMP will be based on the dates as set by the government, you need to look at her due date, count back 15 weeks (this is the qualifying week) and count 8 weeks before that. That period from 8 - 15 weeks will be what matters and where she needs to earn the most so if she is in that time space then you will need to act quickly.

I would also consider the grievance on the basis of why they have made this adjustment when they did not feel the need to before. She should really have been a part of any risk assessment, it may be worth seeing if you can obtain the last one from a few years ago.

All the best.

TELLIT01

If the company H&S policy is that pregnant women can't work in the kitchens it shouldn't be too difficult to see if it is applied nationally. If it isn't she may have a case for discrimination.

sweetilemon

It is quite stressful with zero hours contracts. She also needs to work continuously for 26weeks without breaks before the qualifying week (15weeks before due date). I ended up getting maternity pay from my zero hour job but I certainly wouldn't count on it. It was nail biting until the confirmation came through. HR and my manager said I would 'unlikely qualify' but luckily I had worked every week and just enough to earn the £112. I would bring it up with HR and if they don't agree, speak to citizens advice. Can she take holiday pay to increase her earnings?

She can claim Maternity allowance if she doesnt qualify but that is a lot less.

steampowered

On the surface, it sounds like there may well be a discrimination case. I would look at raising a formal grievance.