Given that the advice for pregnant women is to stay at home and avoid social contact as much as possible, many pregnant women may be keen to be put on furlough leave. However given that maternity pay is calculated on the basis of pay actually received during a set 8-week period, some mothers-to-be may be concerned about the financial impact on their maternity pay of being furloughed and may, therefore, wish to continue to work and receive full pay, if possible. The best thing for businesses to do is to have an open dialogue with pregnant employees about these issues and ascertain what your employee wants to do as a starting point. It may well be that in your particular industry, it is simply not possible for a pregnant woman to continue to work (e.g. a factory worker in a factory which has closed) and so there is no other option than to put them on furlough. However many businesses are able to continue providing work for staff (for example, by providing them with a computer and allowing them to work from home). If a pregnant employee was able to continue to work from home, yet was furloughed because of her pregnancy, then you may well face a claim for direct sex discrimination.