Fair Work Ombudsman launches first pregnancy discrimination claim

The Fair Work Ombudsman has this morning launched the first pregnancy discrimination claim in the Federal Court on behalf of a worker at a NSW printing company who was told her pregnancy had “caused a lot of inconvenience” for which she must “bear the consequences”.

The claim, the first since the FWO was empowered to investigate discrimination claims under the new Fair Work Act which started in July 2009, has been made against Wongtas Pty Ltd, operator of a commercial printing business in Riverwood, NSW, and its two directors Ding Guo Wang and Xiao Yu Zhang.

The FWO alleges that when a 36-year-old Chinese-born mother of two told the company she was pregnant in 2009 she was told she might not be able to return to her position as clerical worker.

When the woman asked for sick leave due to complications with her pregnancy, another full-time worker was hired to take her office job.

But according to the FWO’s statement of claim, a week after returning to work the woman was allegedly told her pregnancy had “caused inconvenience” for the company.

She was then instructed to perform packing duties in the printing company’s factory. The FWO said it was mainly manual labour, the factory was 20 degrees warmer than the office and there was regular overtime.

When she complained, the FWO claims the woman was told she should consider leaving the company.

After she received a written warning about her performance, the woman made a complaint to the FWO. This allegedly upset the company and when the woman returned to work on January 13 after the Christmas/New Year break, she was told she was no longer an employee.

The FWO is seeking penalties against the company and its directors for breaches of the Fair Work Act and compensation for the woman.

Wongtas faces a maximum penalty of $33,000 per breach, while the directors each face a maximum penalty of $6,600 per breach. The case is listed for first directions on August 18.

Wongtas and its directors have reportedly denied the allegations.

Acting Fair Work Ombudsman Leigh Johns told ABC Radio the case is historic in that it is the first time the FWO has exercised its ability to launch legal actions for pregnancy discrimination.

“The situation before the Fair Work Act was that complainants could commence their own proceeding under various state anti-discrimination laws… the problem with that is that they were essentially on their own. In that they had to take an action against their employer.”

“We now have a federal inspectorate who can investigate and prosecute breeches of discrimination in employment.”

In addition to launching the legal claim, the FWO will send 100,000 information packs to hospitals, GPs and other health service providers to warn women about the dangers of pregnancy discrimination.