Woman Awarded £185,000 After Boss Wouldn’t Let Her Leave Early to Pick Up Child from Daycare

Sep 22, 2021 by apost team

Balancing a career and being a parent can be incredibly challenging. This is especially true when your workplace refuses to be flexible. Alice Thompson was a Sales Manager at Manors, a London-based agency, and she requested to work four days a week and finish at five o’clock rather than six because that is when her child’s daycare closes. Her request was denied and not long after she decided to leave the company.

Manors claimed that Thompson was turned down because of additional costs and the effect it would have on the other employees. The mother saw the situation differently. Instead of accepting her fate, Thompson took Manors to an employment tribunal and claimed their decision was discriminatory. She sued the company for harassment, pregnancy and maternity discrimination, unfair dismissal and indirect sex discrimination.

Thompson also shared that since leaving Manors she has had a very difficult time finding other work, so her livelihood was at stake. The tribunal awarded the mother £184,961.32 for a loss of earnings, pension contributions and interest. They declared that the situation was discrimination based on her sex. Thompson stated that she went through with the lawsuit so that her daughter would not have to face the same issues when she grows up.

Because Thompson’s request was reasonable, and the company did not adequately consider flexible work options, the tribunal sided with the mother. However, they did not agree with everything she brought forward during the hearing. There were some statements that she overheard from her boss, Paul Sellar, that were not permissible due to the nature of the conversation. Keep reading to learn more about Thompson’s story.

One of Thompson’s accusations was that Sellar would make rude comments about her based on her gender. According to Daily Mail, she claimed her boss told another colleague: “I thought …  Why is she pregnant when we are doing so well? I was warned about employing a married woman of her age.”

The tribunal found that this statement was not considered harassment because it was not said to Thompson directly. They claimed: “It was not said to (her) face and possibly not in her hearing. In our finding, it was not harassment. If not said to her face, that was not its purpose; as an isolated remark, it lacked the strength to be intimidating or hostile.”

However, the tribunal agreed with Thompson’s other claims of discrimination. The panel said: “Here, Mrs. Thompson resented that flexible working appeared not to be considered properly (as in our finding it was not), and felt that this was an injustice because of her sex, which it was.”

They were sure to mention that Thompson had been through emotional distress due to the company’s decision and her need to leave. “Most mothers find they have difficult feelings returning to work after maternity even when it is a return to a familiar job. Mrs. Thompson's turmoil will have been worse because she had to start from scratch finding a job at all.”

The money awarded to Thompson is more than she would have made in a year working at Manors, where her salary was £120,000. Hopefully, she has better luck finding a job with a flexible schedule in the future.

apost.com

What do you think of this mother winning her lawsuit? Do you agree with what the panel decided? Let us know your opinion and feel free to pass this on to your loved ones.