A former Mitie employee criticised for being ‘very emotional and tearful’ during pregnancy has won a compensation boost totalling £350,000.
Nicola Hinds, who represented herself at an employment tribunal, was awarded a payout of nearly five times the suggested amount after the judge heard she was belittled and dismissed by her bosses at the facilities management business.
Earlier this year, the tribunal ruled she had been constructively dismissed and recommended compensation of around £37,000, which included £20,000 for injury to feelings.
But in a new and final judgement, which factored her loss of earnings based on her £48,000 annual salary, Mitie was ordered to pay out damages of more than £350,000.
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In April 2020, Hinds, a regional account manager, found out she was pregnant and informed her employer a month later.
The company did not carry out a risk assessment during her pregnancy and Hinds expressed several concerns in an email, which she claimed were ignored and not dealt with by the company in line with its policies.
She said she had experienced panic attacks, disrupted sleep and had concerns that she might become unwell with work-related stress or anxiety.
She claimed that the organisation was already aware that she was stressed as a result of a difficult client relationship.
In an email to HR, Hinds’ manager suggested that the prospect of taking unpaid leave before her maternity leave should be raised with the claimant.
The email stated: “I was expecting this email as Nicola has become very emotional and tearful, especially over the last week or so. I am very frustrated with this as she is certainly not overworked and we have been very supportive in helping her manage her workload … I know we have to deal with this very sensitively and I want to try and support Nicola as much as I can but we need to move this forward.”
The employment tribunal judge found that this email had stereotyped Hinds as an “emotional, hormonal pregnant woman” and that his description of her as “emotional and tearful” was “dismissive and belittling”.
The judgment said: “Rather than genuinely wanting to support the claimant as he professed, Mr Kalley instead wanted the respondent to be seen to be supportive of her in circumstances where he effectively wanted her out of the way as soon as possible so that others could step up in her place.
“Mr Kalley’s proposed approach to the situation was not only significantly focused upon his own needs and interests in the matter, more pertinently it was not legally compliant and did not reflect the respondent’s own documented guidance.”
It added that it had attempted to resolve the issues ahead of the tribunal, but was unable to make any progress.
Joeli Brearley, CEO and founder of Pregnant Then Screwed maternity discrimination charity, which supported Hinds, said: “We are thrilled to hear that Nicola has been awarded a fair payout following her horrific experience with Mitie. Hopefully, this sends a very loud message to companies that no matter how big and how powerful you are, we are watching and we are here to support the women you treat badly to ensure they get their just deserts.”
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