Monday, October 22, 2024 - IA mum who lost her job when she returned from maternity leave and said she was expecting another baby has been awarded £28,000.
Nikita Twitchen instituted an unfair dismissal claim after
being made redundant from her role as an admin assistant at Pontypridd-based
building firm First Grade Projects in April 2022.
She told an employment tribunal her back to work meeting
with managing director Jeremy Morgan ‘started positively’, with Morgan saying
he was looking forward to her return.
But she said it ‘came as a shock’ to her boss when she
revealed at the end of the sit-down that she was pregnant again.
Ms Twitchen described how her working relationship with Mr
Morgan had been ‘very good’ and he was ‘very responsive’ when she needed to
speak with him.
When her maternity leave ended in March 2022, nobody from
the company got in touch to discuss her return to work.
On April 4, she asked Morgan about holiday entitlement for
later in the year but he ‘failed to respond substantively’, which was out of
character, the tribunal heard.
Ms Twitchen sent a follow up message on April 11 and again
on April 18.
Later that day, Morgan called her to say she was being made
redundant because of financial difficulties and delays in some payments to the
business.
He later claimed new software was being installed which
meant her role ‘would no longer exist’ but Judge Robin Harvard noted that
Morgan had made no mention of financial difficulties or redundancy at the
February meeting, and in fact had said the business was doing well.
Even in the April phone call he did not mention any new
software.
The judge criticised First Grade’s failure to ‘produce any
evidence of the alleged financial difficulties or of the new software’ during
the court case and at no stage did Ms Twitchen receive a written statement
setting out the reasons for her dismissal.
Ms Twitchen noticed that since her dismissal the company had
rebranded itself, hired people and invested in vehicles.
The judge said these revelations ‘cast doubt’ on Morgan’s
claim that the company was in financial difficulty.
Judge Havard found that Ms Twitchen was dismissed because
she was pregnant.
The judge took into account Mr Morgan’s ‘change of attitude’
after learning of the pregnancy, the change in his ‘speed of response’ to
messages, and the ‘complete lack of any coherent evidence-based alternative
explanation’ despite ample opportunities to provide one.
He ruled the dismissal was unfair, discriminatory, and must
have caused Ms Twitchen ‘real anxiety and distress over a period of time,
having been dismissed when pregnant and losing her sense of financial security
with all the family responsibilities that she had’.
Judge Havard ordered First Grade and Morgan to pay
compensation totalling £28,706.
The company, reacting in a
statement, said: ‘We are extremely disappointed with the outcome of the
tribunal.
‘We are actively reviewing
all relevant information and considering all available options. At this point
in time we are unable to provide any further comment.’
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