“Discrimination” through pregnancy: illegally dismissed woman resumed at work

Publication date: November 22, 2018

A resident of Donetsk Oblast was fired for poor performance. However, she was convinced that the true reason for such a decision by the management was her pregnancy. Lilia Oleksenko, lawyer of the Sloviansk office of the Legal Development Network, helped defend the rights of the client and prove that the owner of the company acted illegally.

A resident of Sloviansk Svitlana told the lawyer that she had been working as a controller for a private enterprise for some time. She was taken on a probationary term for this position. The woman worked diligently. However, just after the probationary period was over, Svitlana was fired on the initiative of the owner with the wording “showed unsatisfactory results during the probationary period”.

At the same time, the woman referred to the “strange coincidence of circumstances”: for 2 weeks before the firing, Svitlana became registered in pregnancy. She immediately informed the employees of the personnel department of the company where she worked, in the presence of an accountant and secretary. She told about her pregnancy to the owner of the company -asking to leave her at work.

But despite this, Svitlana was fired.

The law provides that termination of an employment contract with the aforementioned category of persons on the initiative of the owner is prohibited. The only exception is the cases of complete liquidation of the enterprise, institution or organization, – the lawyer of the Office Liliya Oleksenko commented.

And the legal basis the lawyer applied is the following:

According to Art. 46 of the Constitution of Ukraine, citizens have the right to social protection, including the right for social support in the event of full, partial or temporary disability, loss of breadwinner, unemployment from circumstances beyond their control, as well as in old age and in other cases stipulated by law.

The firing of pregnant women and women with children from the age of 3 years (or to 6 years – Article 179 of the Labor Code of Ukraine) is regulated by Part 3 of Art. 184 of the Code of Labor Laws of Ukraine.

Lilia Oleksenko helped Svitlana to file a lawsuit in court. The court recognized the actions of the company’s leadership as unlawful. So the woman was resumed at work.

P.S. The Offices of the Legal Development Network are created and operate with the support of the “Human Rights and Justice Initiative” program  of the International Renaissance Foundation.

The views reflected in this material belong to its authors and may be inconsistent with the opinion of the International Renaissance Foundation.

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