How the law fails pregnant women in mining

Women in hazardous jobs on South African mines must quit their work when pregnant, but if no safer alternatives can be found, they spend most of their pregnancy sitting at home, suspended and with no pay. Now a Labour Court judge has had some strong words for the unions and the legislature for not closing a ‘loophole’ in the law that allows this situation to continue. In her A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, legal writer Carmel Rickard looks at the case of an engineer suspended during pregnancy, forced to give up her home and her vehicle because she had no income. Rickard argues that the case illustrates one of the grave injustices still suffered by many women working or trying to make a career for themselves in the mining industry.