Lawyers Predict Second Wave of job Losses to hit Older Workers and Pregnant Women

BIRMINGHAM, England, April 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Employment specialists at DBS Law are predicting that a second wave of job cuts sparked by the looming second recession will hit older workers and pregnant women. Statistics published by the Tribunal Service show that in the last quarter of 2010 tribunal claims for age discrimination more than doubled on the previous year. Claims of discrimination and unfair dismissal by pregnant women rose by 47% in the same period.

The figures for older workers and pregnant women contrast with an overall fall in unfair dismissal claims during 2010. Employment experts at DBS put this down to the early rush of redundancies at the beginning of the first recession having chocked off the bulk of workers in non-protected groups considered surplus by their employers.

Paul Griffin, Head of Employment at DBS Law, said, "The figures show a worrying trend in employment in the UK. Whilst the overall numbers of unfair dismissal claims are falling, this can easily be attributed to the fact that large numbers of staff have already been jettisoned by the employers.

"The growth of discrimination claims from older workers and pregnant women suggests that employers are now targeting their more expensive staff, despite them being in protected groups. Obviously mistakes are being made in companies as accounts departments win out against HR.

"Our advice to older workers and pregnant women is take legal advice before a problem arises. You may be able to prevent your boss making a mistake that you will both regret."

Note to Editors: http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/quarterly-statistics-tribunals-q3.pdf. DBS Law is a national law firm based in Birmingham.

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the space if one exists.)