Woman sacked after becoming pregnant wins £25,000 compensation

A woman who was sacked by an employment agency after becoming pregnant has been awarded £25,000 compensation.

Daniella Lewandowski started working for the Bradford District Apprenticeship Training Agency in 2015. She had a minor role at first but was then employed on a £33,000 a year fixed contract.

She said the agency told her that the contract would be extended when it expired on 31 March 2016. She would be promoted to apprenticeship manager and given a pay rise. However, the offer was withdrawn when she later told her manager that she was pregnant.

She brought claims of discrimination because of pregnancy and unfair dismissal.

The agency denied any discrimination and said she lost her job through redundancy because her fixed-term contract had expired. 

The Employment Tribunal found in favour of Ms Lewandowski. Tribunal Judge John Robertson agreed that she had suffered “a year of hell” after she was unfairly dismissed.

She was awarded a total of £25,000 compensation.

Please contact Paul Stevens  on 020 8290 7422 or email pstevens@judge-priestley.co.uk if you would like more information about the issues raised in this article or any aspect of employment law.