Australian workplace pregnancy bias drives legal pressure on employers and regulators

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Australian workplace pregnancy bias

Highlights

More than 100 women report losing work due to pregnancy or childbirth at major Australian employers and public sector, with alleged tactics including performance criticism, reduced hours, or sham restructures.
Federal Court cases, including Abby McCawley's suit against Ray White Brunswick, and a new complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission by a NewCold warehouse worker, underscore rising legal pressure on employers.
Nearly half of Sex Discrimination Act complaints in 2025-26 take over a year to resolve, up from 1 percent in 2020-21, amid record complaint numbers and insufficient funding for regulators.

Cases highlight alleged workplace tactics

As reported by ABC News, citing Four Corners, more than 100 women say they lose work after becoming pregnant or having a child, including employees at some of Australia's biggest companies and in the public sector. The accounts describe an unwritten playbook in which employers question performance, deny flexibility, cut hours or use restructures to remove workers after a pregnancy becomes known.

Abby McCawley says she is dismissed from her role as a rental property manager at Ray White Brunswick in Melbourne after taking time off to manage morning sickness. She says she receives no warning that her job is at risk, and her lawyer, Laura Blandthorn of Solidarity Solicitors, alleges she experiences direct discrimination based on pregnancy; McCawley is now suing Ray White Brunswick in the Federal Court after mediation at the Fair Work Commission fails.

Ray White Brunswick director Jamil Allouche declines an interview and says in a statement that McCawley's employment is terminated for workplace behaviour reasons discussed with her at the time. He says the matter is before the court and he cannot comment further.

Lawyers and advocates say similar patterns appear in other cases. Susan Price of the Working Women's Centre NSW says criticism of a worker's performance often begins after she announces a pregnancy, while JobWatch executive director Zana Bytheway says some women are told their roles are redundant only to discover the position remains under another title, a practice employment lawyers describe as a sham restructure.

Factory worker Challis, who keeps her surname private, says her hours are reduced and then disappear after she becomes pregnant while working in a Melbourne warehouse for NewCold through OzStaff. Her case is now being taken to the Australian Human Rights Commission, and Victoria Legal Aid says anti-discrimination protections apply to casual workers as well as permanent staff.

Complaint delays add pressure on workers

New figures obtained by Four Corners show nearly half of Sex Discrimination Act complaints resolved in 2025-26 take more than a year to finalise, up from 1 percent in 2020-21. The Australian Human Rights Commission also receives its highest number of pregnancy discrimination complaints in more than a decade last year.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody says the wait is difficult for complainants because it can prevent them from finding another job or moving on, adding that additional funding requests have so far been unsuccessful. The Fair Work Commission also says funding cuts force it to constrain some operations, including limiting settlement conferences to one hour.

Employment lawyers and advocacy groups say those delays can discourage women from pursuing claims, particularly when they are up against large employers with legal resources. The mounting caseload is now adding to calls for stronger legislative protections, as workers and advisers argue that existing enforcement processes are too slow and burdensome to prevent women from being pushed out of the workforce.

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