Three sets of laws protect you. The general protections in s 351 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) stop an employer taking adverse action against you because of pregnancy, breastfeeding, family or carer's responsibilities, or because you are subject to family and domestic violence. The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) makes discrimination because of pregnancy or potential pregnancy, breastfeeding and family responsibilities unlawful. And the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (WA) covers pregnancy, breastfeeding and family responsibility or family status.

Potential pregnancy includes the fact that you could become pregnant, have said you want to, or are thought likely to. So an employer who passes over a woman because she has just married, or asks at interview whether she plans to have children, may be discriminating.

The Fair Work Act also gives you minimum leave and job protections, set out below. Taking or asking for that leave is itself a workplace right, and an employer must not take adverse action against you for it.

An example of a case in which an employee was discriminated against because of pregnancy is Sagona v R & C Piccoli Investments Pty Ltd & Ors [2014] FCCA 875 (30 April 2014).

In that case, upon learning of Ms Sagona's pregnancy, her employers asked her to work additional hours outside of her original work agreement, and it was inferred that Ms Sagona's remuneration and employment would be in jeopardy if she did not satisfy these new conditions. These threats were made on an ongoing basis. Ms Sagona sought to work in her usual position or alternative duties of similar capacity, but her requests were refused.

At no point in her pregnancy did Ms Sagona take sick days or act in a manner that would make her employers question her ability to continue performing the duties of her employment. Upon her return to work from maternity leave, Ms Sagona's requests for modification of her work to part-time or flexible hours, so she could care for her child, were also denied by her employer. The employer's requirements of Ms Sagona's role were not inherent in nature and the creation of a hostile working environment constituted constructive dismissal.

The presiding judge held the acts of R & C Piccoli Investments against Ms Sagona were in contravention of the general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009.

The court ordered the employer to compensate Ms Sagona, and ordered the employer and individuals involved to pay civil penalties. Every case turns on its own facts, and outcomes vary widely.

The general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 protect employees from adverse action because of family or carer's responsibilities.

The National Employment Standards also give you:

• Paid personal/carer's leave of 10 days for each year of service for a full-time employee (pro rata for part-time), which accumulates from year to year. You can use it to care for or support a member of your immediate family or household who is ill or injured, or affected by an unexpected emergency (ss 96, 97).

• 2 days of unpaid carer's leave for each occasion, including for casual employees (s 102).

• 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave each year, available in full to part-time and casual employees (s 106A).

• The right to request flexible working arrangements if you are a carer, or care for a child of school age or younger (s 65).

Under s 4A of the Sex Discrimination Act, family responsibilities means responsibilities to care for or support a dependent child, or another immediate family member who needs care and support. Immediate family includes your spouse or partner (including a former one), and an adult child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of you or your spouse. Caring for a friend is not covered by that Act. The WA Equal Opportunity Act's family responsibility or family status ground is worded differently, so check both.