Virgin Blue Faces Pregnancy Discrimination Charges

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers had lodged claims with the Federal Magistrates Court in Brisbane on behalf of two former Virgin Blue public relations executives who were forced to take redundancies after confirming that they were pregnant or returning from maternity leave.

The court documents detail that Virgin Blue breached the right of the women to take maternity leave and to return to the role held immediately before the commencement of parental leave, or another equivalent role

The airline breached its own parental and redundancy policies including a requirement of the airline to speak with an affected employee prior to making a decision about their role being made redundant. They also breached their commitment under the policy to consider alternate employment opportunities for the women.

What do you think of the new parental leave provisions? Is it hard for women returning from maternity leave to get a "fair go"? Or are the provisions just too unwieldy for employers to avoid breaching them?