5. Special cases
After completing a 12 week qualifying period in a given job, pregnant agency workers will be allowed paid time off to attend antenatal medical appointments and antenatal classes when on assignment.
They will also need to be found alternative sources of work, paid at the same rate or higher than the original assignment, if they can no longer complete the duties of the original assignment for health and safety reasons. If alternative work cannot be found, then the pregnant woman will have the right to be paid by the agency for the remaining expected duration of the original assignment.
This provision does not give a pregnant agency worker any entitlement to maternity, paternity and adoption rights beyond those that they are already entitled to. Nor does it give them a right to return to work after maternity leave. The intention of the AWR is to keep pregnant women in the workplace and to ensure that women are not treated unfairly due to their pregnancy. This in addition to the discrimination provisions set out in he Equality Act 2010.
