Pregnant women face workplace hostility and ‘sham redundancies’, Australian human rights report finds

Luisa*, an experienced HR manager in the healthcare industry, was made redundant one month after telling her employer she was pregnant. The expectant mother had explained that her husband would take parental leave and that she planned to return to work soon after the birth.

Luisa had also offered to continue working on a part-time basis, but the redundancy went ahead. It’s one of many case studies described in a report by the Australian Human Rights Commission, which found women are being forced out of employment through “sham redundancies”, losing shifts and facing hostile work environments after having a baby.

“Her employer questioned who would support Luisa after the baby was born, because her family lived overseas,” the report noted. The commission’s report suggests pregnancy discrimination is more prominent for vulnerable groups, including immigrant and First Nations women, people with disability and LGBTQ+ people.

The commission held roundtables with dozens of parents, legal and community advocates when compiling the report. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s Politics, really newsletter here The sex discrimination commissioner, Anna Cody, said urgent law reform was needed to the sex discrimination act to protect women and families, arguing legislation has not kept pace with a changing society.

She said women delayed telling their employers about pregnancies for fear of losing work. “Frequently, when a woman does tell that she is pregnant … she will experience either performance management, or suddenly – if she’s in insecure work, and we know that migrant women and women targeted by racism are more likely to be an insecure and shift work – then the shifts will dry up,” Cody said.

“The third thing that happens is redundancies – and they are ‘sham redundancies’. They’re not … because the job is no longer required or has been eliminated within the workplace, it’s because they no longer want that woman working in the job because she’s pregnant and is going to leave.” The commission’s report, to be released this week, found some parents were given less responsibility at work after the birth of a child.

Others were given fewer shifts or no opportunity for development. Another case study, Michelle*, told the AHRC she lost her job after asking to work longer shifts rather than multiple shorter shifts to care for her two young children and terminally ill father.

“Her workplace responded to her request by no longer offering her any shifts and dismissed her from her role,” the report wrote. Meanwhile, Emily* told the commission she was discouraged from taking lactation breaks while employed at a tech start-up despite its clean, accessible and secure breastfeeding area.

“She was expected to work uninterrupted, long hours and was unable to take her lactation breaks. Despite the available space and policies, the culture and attitudes in her workplace made Emily feel unsupported and led her to stop breastfeeding her child earlier than she wanted to.” A 2014 national review by the AHRC found 49% of mothers reported discrimination during pregnancy, parental leave or on their return to work.

Cody said discrimination remained widespread but it was hard to know whether the situation had improved. The commission would push the federal government to fund another survey, she said. The chief executive of the Parenthood, Georgie Dent, told the National Press Club in September that another survey was critical.

“It must be reinstated,” she said at the time. “We can’t fix what we’ve stopped counting.” A 2024 survey of 1,048 parent workers by the University of South Australia found 89% reported discrimination during pregnancy, 85% reported experiencing discrimination while on parental leave and 92% reported discrimination when returning to work.

The number of complaints to the Human Rights Commission has increased from 52 in 2023 to 71 in 2025. Cody said complaints to the Fair Work Commission were higher but many parents did not report discrimination. “If you make the loss of a job look like a redundancy, the employer is the one who has all the evidence to show whether or not the job has actually disappeared, and yet it’s the complainant, it’s the woman, who has the responsibility, that burden, of bringing a complaint,” Cody said.

“We know that when women are having their child, or are pregnant, that’s a really vulnerable time. And so then to put on top of that, ‘Now it’s your responsibility to make a complaint to either the Fair Work Commission or to the Australian Human Rights Commission’, sometimes that’s just too much.” The AHRC takes up to a year to allocate a conciliator after a complaint is lodged, meaning there is a backlog of cases.

*Name changed by Human Rights Commission in its report