pregnancy rights

The legislation generally serves to protect of all male and female employees. Specifically targeting the protection of women, Article 6(4) states that female employees shall not perform work which, by its very nature,  may hold specific dangers for women or alternatively, women may only perform such work with certain restrictions or measures suitable to prevent such risks. The Federal Ministry of Labor shall specify those works in a separate regulation (Article 18 no. 2).

The plaintiff lost a portion of her salary because she could not work overtime during her pregnancy. In deciding whether she was entitled to maternity leave payments, the Austrian Supreme Court considered the overtime work element rather than regular wage elements. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, causing a general improvement in the financial position of Austrian maternity benefit recipients.

This regulation aims to ensure that pregnant women and their children have access to necessary basic medical care by tracking medical examinations received with a so-called mother-and-child-passport issued by the Federal Ministry of Health. Basic medical care includes, at least, five medical examinations of the pregnant woman and nine examinations of the child until the child reaches the age of 62 months. The regulation specifies contents, time intervals, and the information that should be included in the mother-and-child-passport. According to Sec.

The Law provides a number of benefits and guarantees for women. In particular, annual basic and additional full-time leave in the first year of work is provided to employees after six months of continuous work at the enterprise, institution, or organization. However, until this term, such leave may be granted to women (at their request) before or after maternity leave, as well as to women who have two or more children under the age of 15 or a child with a disability.

Article 178 of the Labor Code provides for the right of pregnant women and women with children under the age of three to request that their employer reduce the woman’s production and service rates, or transfer her to easier work in order to avoid dangerous conditions while maintaining her pay from her original position. At the same time, the woman must provide her employer with an appropriate medical documentation confirming the pregnancy and the impossibility of performing the original work.

Article 179 of the Code of Labor Laws establishes that women shall be granted a paid maternity leave for 70 calendar days before childbirth and for 56 calendar days after childbirth, counting from the day of childbirth. A positive step in gender policy is the adoption of the Law of Ukraine 'On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts Concerning Ensuring Equal Opportunities for Mothers and Fathers to Care for a Child'.

Article 56 of the Labor Code stipulates the employer's obligation to set part-time working hours for certain categories of employees, including (i) pregnant women; (ii) women with children under the age of 14 and/or a child with a disability; (iii) women caring for a sick family member. The scope of their labor rights is not limited; such women still have the right to a full-time vacation and social benefits. For part-time work days, a person is paid in proportion to the time worked. Article 60-1 provides for the right of pregnant women and women with children to choose to work from home.

Article 63 of the Code of Labor Laws prohibits overtime work for pregnant women and women with children under the age of three. This rule is meant to protect women, but at the same time it makes them vulnerable to discrimination. The direct application of this rule violates women's right to freely choose their work, restricts women's access to jobs for which additional payment is provided (for example, under the hourly payment system, overtime work is paid at doubled hourly rate), and can also inhibit women’s career and professional growth.

A woman (the plaintiff) filed a lawsuit to recognize her dismissal as illegal, reinstate her her employment, and recover non-pecuniary damage in the amount of UAH 50,000. The plaintiff’s claim was based on the fact that the director of the company where she worked issued an illegal order to dismiss her when he learned that the plaintiff was pregnant. This decision was due to the fact that the company was obligated to provide the plaintiff with paid maternity leave in the near future.