Terminating the contract of a pregnant employee or an employee on family leave

An employer is not allowed to terminate an employee’s contract due to the employee being pregnant or exercising their right to take family leave. The employer must be able to prove that the cause for the termination was other than the pregnancy.

Here are some examples of legally justified termination causes:

Other reasons to terminating the contract

The contract can be terminated for other reasons related to the employee’s person than pregnancy or family leave.

In such cases, the employer must invoke the grounds for dismissal within a reasonable time after becoming aware of the issue. The employee must also usually be warned before the termination.

Dismissal due to reasons related to the employee’s person is usually only possible during a brief period of time after starting family leave. Cancelling an employment contract, on the other hand, is possible with the same grounds as cancelling a contract that is valid until further notice.

Financial and production-related grounds

Terminating the contract of a pregnant employee or an employee on family leave on financial and production-related grounds only if the employer’s operations will cease completely.

If the operations continue, the employee’s contract can only be terminated after their return to work. However, the ground for dismissal cannot be that the employee’s substitute has been given a permanent position and the employee returning to work no longer has a job because of this.

A pregnant employee’s employment contract can be terminated on financial and production-related grounds before the start of their maternity leave. In this case, the employer has to be able to prove that the termination was not due to the employee’s pregnancy in any way.

Prohibition of gender-based discrimination

A pregnant employee or an employee on family leave should always verify that the termination of their contract is not due to their pregnancy or their family leave. This is based on the prohibition of gender-based discrimination (enhanced dismissal protection). Pregnancy is a heavily gender-related issue, which is why termination of an employment contract with pregnancy as the cause also constitutes as gender-based discrimination. 

By ending the employment contract of a pregnant employee or an employee on family leave, the employer may violate the regulations of the Act on Equality between Women and Men.