Prohibition Of Pregnant Employee’s Dismissal During the Early Pregnacy until the End of the Maternity Leave

These considerations herein propose to bring in legal debate the potential possibility of an employer to dismiss a pregnant employee, in another situation than that of a reorganization or bankruptcy, even when the employee informed her employer of her pregnancy condition. We shall address this situation considering several hypotheses that the employer may find himself, such as: relocation to a different city, closure of a work site, and suspension of the activity recorded in the Trade Register for a period of no more than three years or cancellation of an entire department. In conclusion, we support that it cannot be accepted, without exception, the argument that a pregnant employee can be fired for reasons unrelated to her state, than in case of a reorganization or bankruptcy, showing that there are situations where the conventional reorganization results in the proper cancellation of the job held by the pregnant employee, but also of other existing jobs in the organizational chart of the company. The legislation provisions in this field are criticized with arguments, appreciating that exceptions should not be limited to judicial reorganization or bankruptcy.