£130,000 award for woman made redundant when pregnant
Marine biologist Caroline Law was made redundant in June 2020 in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, two months before she was due to go on maternity leave from the University of Cumbria.
Now Mrs Law has now won £129,133 after successfully suing the university for pregnancy discrimination and unfair dismissal.
Claimant praised by tribunal
The tribunal in Manchester praised her for representing herself at the four-day hearing while juggling being a new mother, moving her family to Scotland, and arranging care for her elderly and disabled father.
The tribunal heard during the meeting in which Ms Law was told she was being made redundant she was left ’embarrassed and upset’ by ‘weird and inappropriate’ remarks by her boss Rachel Lowthian.
‘Perfunctory approach’
As well as advice on securing child benefits, finding second-hand baby clothes and techniques to bathe a baby, Ms Lothian told Law she would receive good karma if she worked hard, and suggested she might be able to work from home while the baby slept.
When Mrs Law tried to appeal her sacking in June 2020 the tribunal heard the university’s CEO David Chesser took a ‘perfunctory’ approach to her claim and rejected her argument that her pregnancy made her ‘vulnerable’.
This was despite statements by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Julie Mennell, PhD, that the University would not permit vulnerable staff to be disproportionately affected by its Covid response.
Reasonable point
Employment judge Joanne Dunlop said: “Mrs Lowthian was well-intentioned and [we] believe that this was also apparent to Mrs Law. Mrs Law’s concern was not so much about the advice itself, but about what it said about the redundancy process that Mrs Lowthian was spending the meeting dispensing such advice.
“It seems Mr Chesser was rejecting Mrs Law’s reasonable point that pregnancy itself creates a vulnerability. Having regard to that context, we find Mr Chesser’s comments were unfavourable treatment on the grounds of her pregnancy. Mr Chesser’s approach to the appeal was perfunctory. Mrs Law had raised serious and difficult issues which merited exploration and explanation at the very least.”
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