Immigration officer claims time off for IVF cost her job

An immigration officer was suspended from work because she took too much time off for fertility treatment, a tribunal heard yesterday.

Parminder Sahota, who took 12 days off for her IVF course, claimed she was disciplined and sent home as the UK Border Agency (UKBA) treated them as unauthorised absences.

Sahota is claiming race and sex discrimination against her employer. She originally worked in the UKBA’s Paris headquarters, but was transferred to Kent in 2007, where the problems began, she said.

Sarah Ashberry, employment lawyer with Pinsent Masons, says that if there was any doubt about whether a female employee undergoing IVF treatment could have grounds for sex discrimination then this case, brought by Parminder Sahota, answers that.

Her boss in Folkestone teased her that all she wanted to do was “get pregnant”, she alleged. She was suspended in March 2007. She was later off work with ‘work-related’ depression.

The UKBA refused to comment as the hearing was still ongoing.