Logistics company fined over HK$920,000 in pregnancy discrimination case

A woman has won over HK$920,000 payout from a logistics company after the employer discriminated against her as a pregnant woman by refusing to renew her employment contract and to pay her the yearly bonus.

The District Court on Thursday awarded loss of income of HK$306,680 and year-end bonus of HK$489,500 to the claimant, surnamed Chow, after she launched legal action against the company for not renewing the employment contract right before her maternity leave.

The Court also ordered the company to pay a sum of HK$130,000 for injury to feelings to Chow, along with her legal costs.

Chow began working for the logistics company in September 2007 and was promoted to department head in March 2017. 

Shortly after the promotion, Chow discovered that she was pregnant.

The company then refused to provide Chow an end-of-year bonus and not renewing her employment contract right before her maternity leave and attributed that to her "poor performance" and for cost-saving purposes, in which Chow doubted that the real reason is the company was not happy about her pregnancy.

As treating a woman less favorably because of her pregnancy and related maternity leave constitutes pregnancy discrimination, Chow made a complaint to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in 2018. 

After the effort to mediate failed, EOC provided legal assistance to Chow while the Commission's in-house lawyers represented her to conduct the case and attend court as trial Counsel on her behalf.

EOC welcomed the ruling from the District Court ruling and added that the judgment sends a strong reminder to all employers that there is no place for pregnancy discrimination in the field of employment.

The Commission said it has received 223 complaints on pregnancy discrimination, representing 23 percent of total complaints received under the Sex Discrimination Ordinance from 2020 to 2022.