Barry Creshell

If an employee is dismissed at the very early stages of her pregnancy, she may be out of work for between a year, a year and a half or more, and therefore may not have the financial resources or emotional desire to bring a claim immediately.

pregnant workers who are dismissed are in a much more vulnerable condition than other dismissed employees and potentially it might be useful to consider if there's any additional supports we can provide to them because there is no free legal aid under employment law and importantly

all parties bear their own costs when bringing legal proceedings, which is possibly one of the reasons why pregnant employees accept severance packages that are offered to them, which are probably below what they may have achieved in the Workplace Relations Commission, given the, I suppose, urgency and need of their own particular circumstances to make up for any financial shortfall that they've now experienced as a consequence of being dismissed while pregnant.