Normally there is little justification for the dismissal of a pregnant employee. However, under EU law would a collective redundancy be considered an ‘exceptional case’ and therefore allow the dismissal of a pregnant worker?
In Guisado v Bankia SA – Advocate-General Sharpton decided that this would not necessarily be the case. The Advocate General said that there must be no reasonable possibility of reassignment. Under the EU’s Maternity and Collective Redundancies directives, collective redundancies, including dismissal for ‘one or more reasons not related to the individual workers concerned’ would not automatically be an ‘exceptional case’ allowing the dismissal of pregnant workers. Rather, ‘there must be no plausible possibility of reassigning the pregnant worker to another suitable post’. This opinion is not legally binding but the issues of this particular case are to be decided at a later date and will have possible ramifications for the application of regulation 10 MAPLE 1999.
Written by
Lorraine Emery
2nd October 2017