Women's Rights at Work
The Women's Employment Law builds a set of protections around pregnancy, birth and fertility treatment: no discrimination in hiring, a permit requirement before dismissal, paid absences, a 26-week maternity period, and rights on returning to work. This guide sets out each of them, its conditions, and the points in time at which the protection begins and ends.
Notifying the employer and the ban on discrimination
An employee is required to notify her employer of her pregnancy in the fifth month. A job candidate, by contrast, is under no duty to disclose a pregnancy, and an employer may not discriminate between candidates because of pregnancy. The same rule applies to fertility treatment: candidates need not disclose it, and an employer may not ask.
The distinction between "employee" and "candidate" is not a technicality. The duty to notify in the fifth month exists so that the employer can make arrangements and protect the employee, whereas the ban on asking a candidate exists to prevent early screening. An employee who notifies later than the fifth month does not lose the protections, but she may find it harder to prove that the employer knew, and that is what decides a discrimination claim.
Dismissal because of pregnancy gives rise to two causes of action: under the Women's Employment Law and under the Equal Employment Opportunities Law. The two routes differ in remedies and in burdens of proof, so choosing between them, or combining them, is a legal decision rather than a matter of wording.
Limits on dismissal and on cutting terms
The core of the Women's Employment Law is the permit requirement: an employer who wishes to dismiss an employee, reduce her position or cut her income in any of the following situations must first obtain a permit from the Supervisor of the Women's Employment Law at the Ministry of Labour:
- During pregnancy.
- During unpaid leave taken at the end of the maternity period, and for 60 days after it.
- 60 days after an absence due to a medical condition following the birth, and 60 days after an absence due to splitting the maternity period or sole custody.
- 60 days after the end of the maternity period, where the business closed or ceased operating.
- During fertility treatment, during the unpaid absence of a nursing employee, and during a stay in a shelter for battered women.
And there are situations in which no permit is available at all and dismissal is prohibited by law: during the maternity period itself; during a medical absence from the end of the maternity period for up to six months, with a doctor's confirmation; during an absence due to a miscarriage; and during an absence due to splitting the period or sole custody.
The permit requirement does not apply to a pregnant employee who has worked for the employer or at the same workplace for less than six months, to a fixed-term contract of less than a year that was not extended and carried no expectation of renewal, or to an employee who resigned. A dismissal carried out without a permit where one was required is void, and the employee is entitled to her rights as if she had not been dismissed.
Absence for check-ups and pregnancy bed rest
A pregnant employee may be absent for medical supervision and routine tests, without deduction from her wages, on presenting a medical certificate. The scope depends on the structure of the position: up to 40 hours during the pregnancy for an employee working a full week of more than four hours a day, and up to 20 hours for an employee working less than four hours a day.
Pregnancy bed rest is a prolonged absence of more than thirty days on medical instruction. It counts as absence due to illness and does not affect rights that depend on seniority, such as severance pay and seniority increments. The employee may file a claim with the National Insurance Institute for a pregnancy bed rest benefit, and each claim is examined by the Institute's doctors. Until a decision is made she is on sick leave, so she is paid in either case: from sick days or from the benefit.
A further route is absence due to a risk involved in the work: where a doctor has confirmed in writing that the type of work, its location or the way it is performed endangers the employee or the foetus, and the employer has not found her suitable alternative work. This absence is unpaid leave, but it too does not affect seniority-based rights.
Fertility treatment
An employee may be absent from work during a period in which she undergoes fertility treatment, including IVF, whether in hospital or as an outpatient. A male employee may also be absent for fertility treatment he undergoes. Three cumulative conditions apply: written confirmation from the treating doctor that the treatment requires absence, advance notice to the employer, and staying within the quota.
- Female employee: four series of treatment a year, each series up to 16 days in a five-day working week and up to 20 days in a six-day week.
- Male employee: 12 days a year.
The absence is recognised as absence due to illness, and up to 40 hours a year, pro rata to the position, are charged against paid sick days from the first day.
The restriction on dismissal applies during the period of entitlement to be absent and for 150 days after it, unless a permit is granted. It also applies to employees who were not actually absent, on two conditions: at least six months of work for the employer, and notice to the employer of the treatment within three working days of the advance notice or the dismissal, with a medical certificate. The restriction applies to treatment towards no more than two births, for two years from the first day of absence, and also covers reductions in the position, in income, and non-renewal of a contract.
The maternity period
The length of the maternity period depends on the period of work that preceded it with the same employer or at the same workplace:
- An employee with 12 months of work before the period begins is entitled to the full period of 26 weeks.
- An employee who has not accumulated 12 months is entitled to a partial period of 15 weeks.
In both cases the employee may take up to seven weeks of the period before the expected date of birth. In certain cases, an employee whose partner has given birth may take a maternity period in place of the days his partner did not use. Maternity allowance is paid by the National Insurance Institute under its own eligibility conditions, and the employer must continue to make payments to the pension fund during the period, on the conditions set by law.
During the maternity period itself no dismissal permit is available at all. It is one of the few periods in labour law in which the prohibition is absolute and cannot be lifted.
Returning to work
Three rights accompany the return:
- Medical absence. An employee may be absent after the end of the maternity period if a doctor has confirmed that her condition following the birth requires it, for up to six months from that day, subject to the confirmation. The absence is treated as illness, and during it, and for 60 days after it, dismissal or cutting terms without a permit is prohibited, including non-renewal of a contract.
- Parenting hour. A full-time employee is entitled to one hour of absence a day, without deduction from her wages, from the end of the maternity period until four months after it. An employee whose partner has given birth is also entitled to it under certain conditions.
- Unpaid leave. An employee may take unpaid leave from the end of the maternity period, and the law protects her from dismissal during it and for 60 days after it, unless a permit is granted.
Absence during the nursing period and limits on night work and weekly rest are also set by law, and their conditions depend on the length of the period and on medical confirmation.
Resigning to care for a child
An employee, male or female, who resigns within nine months of the birth in order to care for the child is entitled, under certain conditions, to severance pay as if dismissed. This is one of the grounds listed in the Severance Pay Law for a resignation treated as dismissal, alongside a material worsening of working conditions and relocation. The full mechanism is set out on the page Worsening conditions and resignation treated as dismissal.
The financial significance of this recognition is greatest where the employer contributed only 6% to the severance component rather than 8.33%: only a dismissal, or a resignation treated as dismissal, entitles the employee to a top-up to full severance pay.
As for unemployment benefit, a resignation for a justified reason qualifies from the first day of registration with the Employment Service, whereas a voluntary resignation carries a 90-day wait. A material worsening of working conditions, a health condition, sexual harassment and relocation over a considerable distance are among the reasons recognised as justified.
In summary
The protections in the Women's Employment Law are not a single list but a timeline: from notifying of the pregnancy, through check-ups and bed rest, the maternity period, and up to the 60 days after the return. At each point on the timeline the protection is different, sometimes absolute and sometimes liftable by permit. The first question in every case is therefore at which point on the timeline the event occurred.
The complexity comes from the intersection of at least three laws, the Women's Employment Law, the Equal Employment Opportunities Law and the Severance Pay Law, alongside National Insurance benefits, each with its own conditions and burdens of proof. Realising these rights, as well as handling a permit procedure properly on the employer's side, requires professional legal representation by a lawyer specialising in labour law.
If you were dismissed or your terms were cut during a protected period, or you are an employer who needs a permit, contact us and we will examine the timeline together, and the options open to you.
What people ask most often
When must an employee notify her employer of a pregnancy?
Can an employer dismiss a pregnant employee?
How many hours of absence are allowed for pregnancy check-ups?
How long is the maternity period?
Does the protection also cover fertility treatment?
I resigned after the birth to care for my child. Am I entitled to severance pay?
All Labour Law Department pages
Dismissed, or had your terms cut, during a protected period?
Tell us what stage you are at, what you were told and when. That is enough to say whether a permit is required, whether one was granted, and what the sequence of steps is from here.