In a recent Northern Irish employment law case, a tribunal was asked to consider an unlawful discrimination claim from a woman who was dismissed by her employer when she was 20 weeks pregnant.
Laura Gruzdaite vs. McGranes Nurseries Ltd, Peter McGrane & Stephen McGrane
Case background
The claimant (Laura Gruzdaite), along with her husband, worked for McGranes Nurseries, who are a plant wholesaler in Northern Ireland, where she had been employed since January 2018. When she and her husband began their employment, they were given contracts which did not stipulate a start or finish date, and they believed that their employment status was permanent.
When Ms Gruzdaite informed one of her managers that she was pregnant and showed them her first antenatal appointment letter, he forgot to tell the other manager about it. Subsequently, when she did not attend work due to the antenatal appointment, she was called into a meeting to explain her absence.
In addition to this, after she had informed the company of her pregnancy, Ms Gruzdaite also claimed that one of her managers (Paul McGrane) was “less friendly towards her”.
The claimant attended her second antenatal appointment in October 2018, along with her husband. Whilst they attended the appointment, the plant wholesaler held a group meeting with a number of seasonal workers where they were given a week’s notice as the season was coming to an end.
Two days later, the claimant and her husband were called into a meeting where they were both dismissed as they were seasonal employees. However, a number of seasonal workers remained with the company and carried out the work that had previously been undertaken by Ms Gruzdaite.
During the meeting, the claimant was accused of skipping work and told she would be needing “more days off” due to her pregnancy.
Tribunal proceedings
The claimant brought tribunal proceedings against the company as she believed that she had been dismissed for reasons relating to her pregnancy. The industrial tribunal ruled unanimously in her favour and awarded her almost £28,000 in damages – £20,000 for injury to feelings, £820 in relation to the loss of statutory maternity pay and further amounts for the loss of earnings.
The tribunal, in their decision, commented that “the reason was tainted by discrimination” and was not a result of her being a seasonal employee. Additionally, the judgement stated:
“From an assessment of all the evidence we find that a decision was made to terminate the claimant’s contract by choosing her to leave earlier than the others because she had been on antenatal appointments and would be going on more appointments.”
Comment
This case serves as a reminder to employers about the protections which pregnant employees have and to not allow pregnancy to influence decisions about which employees to let go or retain.
How can Nelsons help?
Laura Kearsley is a Partner in our expert Employment Law team.
We can help you where redundancy or other processes might involve pregnant staff or others with potential discrimination claims. Please contact Laura or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.