It’s a case the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) hopes sends a loud message to employers: pregnancy is not grounds for dismissal.
The commission has lodged legal action against the former employers of a domestic worker from the Philippines who was pressured to resign after becoming pregnant.
Announced last Friday, the case submitted to the District Court alleges the employers breached the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, Cap. 480, which stipulates it’s unlawful for a boss to subject a woman to disadvantage or dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy.
It’s a problem that’s far from rare in Hong Kong.
“Employment-related pregnancy discrimination remains one of the EOC’s most frequently received complaints under the SDO,” the EOC said, in a statement.
“The EOC has received 200 complaints on pregnancy discrimination, representing 38 percent of total complaints received under the SDO, from 2015 to 2017. It shows that working pregnant women still face considerable discrimination.
“By taking this case to court, the EOC hopes to raise public awareness of the rights of pregnant workers under the SDO, and to remind employers that it is unlawful to discriminate against female employees, including foreign domestic helpers, because of their pregnancy.
According to the SCMP, which viewed the writ, the claimant is 37-year-old Caling Pia Karen Sanchez, who fell pregnant in April last year.
She is demanding HK$197,035 (US$25,100) in damages for injury to feelings, medical expenses and loss of income from June 1 to October 20.
She alleges her former employer, Chan Hing-man, called her “horrible” when she found out about the pregnancy last year.
Sanchez, according to the SCMP, she had intended to complete her contract, which was due to run until October 20, 2017, but felt that she had “no alternative but to resign”, given Chan’s continued pressure on her to do so.
She finished with Chan at the end of May and gave birth in Hong Kong on September 18.
