Legal help?

my best friend is about to finish her 3 month probation in her work place and she has discovered she is pregnant.can they sack her for this reason to avoid her future maternity leave? should she keep quiet till she becomes permanent? does she have any right yet or will she aquire them once the probabtion is over? thanks
She could not be dismissed on the grounds of being pregnant. You would need to see a copy of her contract, perhaps there is a clause in there which refers to pregnancy and the probation period. It might be wise not to mention it until the end of her probation period. As far as rights go, again you would need to see the contract of employment which she would have signed.
If you are in the UK, probationary periods have no legal standing. She will have maternity rights, same as all other employees.
Actually with Maternity leave the rights don't vest until you are with the company over a year...by the end of her pregnancy she will make that requirement but it does not preclude them from firing her for any reason.

Just because she is preganant does not preclude her from being fired for any reason other than discrimination....She cannot be fired for race, gender, or her preganancy among other things.

The exception would obviously be that she can't do the job because of the preganncy or another medical condition...but yeah...if she is stealing, not doing a good job, the boss doesn't get along with her....or many other reasons she can be fired....but not just to avoid maternity leave.
No, they can't fire her for being pregnant, but they can fire her for 'no cause' and I've known employers to do so--including the state dept of motor vehicles. She should not tell them while on probation. She has no rights under law until her probationary period is over unless they say the magic words--'we're terminating you because you're pregnant' and they won't say that--they'll just fire her. Tell her to keep it quiet.


Answer:
Legally they can't fire her for being pregnant; but common sense says why create an issue and they can uusually find a reason. I'd make sure all is well before I told anyone; after probation.
Hi Ma m,

In the UK

The simple answer is no. If this happens it is automatic unfair dismissal to sack someone for being pregnant. There is no qualifying period for this. That is to say that you don't have to be in employment for a certain amount of time before you are protected. It starts the moment she becomes an employee.

Hope this clears the matter up for you.