Case 1304227/2021 · Employment Tribunal

Ms E Saunders v M&S Auto Electrical Ltd — 2023

Case reference: 1304227/2021
Decision date: 21 February 2023
Jurisdiction: England & Wales
Judge: Employment Judge Connolly
Venue: Birmingham

Indexed: 22 May 2026

Parties

2 named

Claimant

Ms E Saunders

Respondent

M&S Auto Electrical Ltd

Key findings

Tribunal's reasoning

Because the respondent's response was struck out and the respondent did not attend or have representation, the tribunal heard evidence from the claimant and submissions from her counsel only. It found that M&S Auto Electrical Ltd discriminated against Ms E Saunders because of pregnancy, contrary to s.18 and s.39(2)(c) and (d) of the Equality Act 2010.

The tribunal also found that Ms Saunders was dismissed within the meaning of s.95(1)(c) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, that the principal reason for the dismissal was her pregnancy and/or a reason connected with pregnancy, and that the dismissal was unfair pursuant to s.99 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and regulation 20 of the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999.

In addition, the tribunal upheld the claims for unauthorised deductions from wages for the period 30 August 2021 to 1 September 2021 and for holiday pay accrued but untaken at the date of termination. It ordered the respondent to pay a total of £29,415.16, recording heads of award for injury to feelings, past and future loss of earnings, interest, a basic award, the wages deduction, and holiday pay. The judgment's listed heads as written do not arithmetically reconcile exactly to the headline total.

Claims and outcomes

4 findings recorded

Claim type	Issue or finding	Outcome	Protected characteristic	Award
Pregnancy and maternity discrimination	The judgment finds discrimination because of pregnancy under s.18 and s.39(2)(c) and (d) Equality Act 2010. The remedy section lists injury to feelings, past and future loss of earnings, and interest, but does not separately apportion those heads between the discrimination and dismissal findings.	Upheld	Pregnancy and maternity	—
Unfair dismissal	The tribunal found the dismissal was within s.95(1)(c) ERA 1996, that the principal reason was the claimant's pregnancy and/or a reason connected with pregnancy, and that it was unfair under s.99 ERA 1996 and regulation 20 of the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999.	Upheld	—	£270
Unlawful deduction from wages	Unauthorised deductions were found in respect of the period worked from 30 August 2021 to 1 September 2021.	Upheld	—	£126
Holiday pay	The tribunal found the respondent failed to pay holiday accrued but untaken at the date of termination.	Upheld	—	£126

Remedy

Monetary award

Total award: £29,415; across all upheld claims
Basic award: £270; statutory, unfair dismissal
Compensatory award: £15,129; compensatory remedy recorded

Legal tests applied

6 references

Official outcome judgment PDF

Gov.uk primary record

The official judgment PDF on gov.uk contains the tribunal's outcome, reasoning, and any remedy details. Where this page does not yet show extracted outcomes for every claim, use the PDF as the authoritative source.

Open official judgment PDF on gov.uk

Published on gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

How we got this data

Case essentials (reference, date, judge, venue, country, claim categories) are extracted from the structured metadata gov.uk publishes alongside each decision. Parties and monetary figures are extracted from the judgment PDF text. Key findings and per-claim outcomes require a second extraction pass that is not yet complete for this case — until then, the primary source linked above is the authoritative record. See full methodology.

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