For you as an employee

When should I tell my boss that I'm pregnant?

As an employee and a prospective employee in the application process, you are protected against discrimination due to your pregnancy. Therefore, it should never be a disadvantage to discuss your pregnancy with your employer.
On the contrary, it may be important to mention your pregnancy early on if the work environment poses risks for pregnant employees, such as heavy lifting or work with hazardous substances. In such cases, the employer has an obligation to relocate you to a different job that does not involve such risks, or to allow you to leave with pregnancy benefits. If you, as an employee, have problems with pregnancy-related health issues, part-time or full-time sick leave may also be considered.

Do you have the right to visit the midwife during working hours?

As an employee, you must agree with your employer regarding the visits you need to make to the midwife, as there is usually no legal right to leave for these visits. However, there may be collective agreements that provide certain rights.

For employers

Is it allowed to terminate an employee due to pregnancy?

Pregnant individuals have certain rights and protection against discrimination in the workplace. As an employer, you are not allowed to use pregnancy as a reason for discriminatory decisions, such as not hiring, not extending employment, or terminating someone.

What obligations does the employer have towards a pregnant employee?

If the work environment poses risks for a pregnant employee (also applies to new mothers and breastfeeding), you as an employer must relocate the employee. If relocation is not possible, the employee has the right to pregnancy benefits.
There is no legal right for pregnant individuals to attend midwife visits during working hours, but some collective agreements may provide the right to doctor's visits during working hours if necessary. The employee and you as the employer should try to reach an agreement regarding the appointment times. However, pregnant individuals have the right to take parental leave up to 60 days before the estimated due date, including for check-ups.

In summary

  • As an employee and future employee in the application process, you are protected against discrimination based on your pregnancy. Employers are not allowed to discriminate against a pregnant employee in their decision due to their pregnancy.
  • As an employee, you also have the right to avoid exposing yourself to work-related risks while pregnant. If the work environment poses risks to pregnant employees, you have the right to be relocated or otherwise take maternity leave.
  • As an employee, you may be fully or partially on sick leave due to complications from your pregnancy.
  • There is no legally mandated right to midwife visits, it is done by agreement between the employer and the employee.
  • If the employee plans to take parental leave, the notification of parental leave should generally be submitted no later than two months before the planned start of the parental leave.

Related articles

This website uses cookies

Cookies ("cookies") consist of small text files. The text files contain data which is stored on your device. To be able to place some type of cookies we need your consent. We at Alex AB (publ), corporate identity number 559338-7698 use these types of cookies. To read more about which cookies we use and storage duration, click here to get to our cookiepolicy.

Manage your cookie-settings

Necessary cookies

Necessary cookies are cookies that need to be placed for fundamental functions on the website to work. Fundamental functions are for instance cookies that are needed for you to use menus and navigate the website.

Statistical cookies

To know how you interact with the website we place cookies to collect statistics. These cookies anonymize personal data.

Ad measurement cookies

To be able to provide a better service and experience we place cookies to tailor marketing for you. Another purpose for this placement is to market products or services to you, give tailored offers or market and give recommendations on new concepts based on what you have bought from us previously.

Ad measurement user cookies

In order to show relevant ads we place cookies to tailor ads for you

Personalized ads cookies

To show relevant and personal ads we place cookies to provide unique offers that are tailored to your user data