Nepalese exec takes court action over pregnancy firing

Nepalese expat, Srijana Shrestha was excited to tell her employers of the good news in May, but was shocked to receive a termination of contract letter two weeks later.

Narrated

2 min read

The New Arab

16 Sep, 2016

The Nepalese expat was dismissed after announcing her pregnancy [Getty]

A Nepali expat in Qatar is taking her employer to court for unfair dismissal claiming she was fired following her "unacceptable" pregnancy.

Srijana Shrestha – who worked at a recruitment firm in Doha – was fired from her online marketing role just two week after notifying her employer of her pregnancy, she said.

The 32-year-old received a 'termination of contract' notice from Staff Source International which described her pregnancy as "unacceptable as per the employment contract since you are working with the company under bachelor status."

"I asked why they were treating me like I’m a disabled person," the pregnant employee said.

"I'm completely fine. Are they saying that pregnant women should stay within four walls and not go anywhere?”

Shrestha took the battle to lawyers who said “stipulating that a female employee not get married or pregnant is flagrant opposition to the legislator’s will and intention in writing (the labour law) and a violation of the letter of the law,” legal consultant, Abdallah Yusuf told local Doha News.

However, the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Narkaji Gurung defended the move, noting the former employee “was doing ok” and “got on very well” before she “unfortunately.. got pregnant.”

The COO, who leads the operations for the company that provides staff to several companies in Qatar, said “we have more than 300 Filipino and Nepalese women working here as cleaners for us, and whoever gets pregnant, they go.”

But female employees are not obliged to announce pregnancies in Qatar, Yusuf noted, adding that the “stipulating that a female employee not get married or pregnant is flagrant opposition to the legislator’s will and intention in writing (the labor law) and a violation of the letter of the law.”

The incident violates gender equality laws in the gulf state, including article 35 of the constitution of Qatar, “which declares everyone equal before the law,” as well as article 93, which enshrines equality between employees in the workplace, regardless of gender.

The case was taken to court in July however is not expected to end until October – seven months into the pregnancy.

But the struggle does not end there for Shrestha.

The job loss means the now unemployed expat no longer has a valid health card and is forced to leave her husband to fight the court case as she flies back to Nepal to give birth.

“This has broken my family. Not to have my husband by my side is the worst feeling a wife could go through,” she said.