On Judicial Application of Anti-discrimination Protection Regulations for Maternity Leave

In judicial practice, China’s anti-discrimination protection regulations on maternity leave face difficulties in application, such as insufficient application foundation, inconsistent application standards, and improper application paths. This exacerbates the discrimination dilemma caused by maternity leave among workers in practice, thereby affecting their willingness to give birth and their career development. The independent application basis of the anti-discrimination protection provisions for maternity leave is reflected in its substantive protection function for the right to maternity leave, and corresponding rights remedies are achieved through the protection of the right to request and the right to request debt treatment in public law. This regulation should be guided by the equal protection of the right to maternity leave, and its applicable standards can be summarized as differential treatment standards, reasonable convenience standards, and substantive disadvantage standards. The application path of this regulation should mainly focus on the causal examination between the unfavorable treatment of workers and maternity leave and conduct specific analysis from the principle of proximate cause, minimum causality, and motivation examination. Among them, the consent of workers and the necessity of business can be exempted from liability.