Mr McEvoy (Claimant’s partner) For the v Respondent — 2020

Mrs McEvoy told the respondent she was pregnant in May 2017 and went on maternity leave in November 2017. Before her return, she exchanged texts with Mr Blackmore about working 1.5 days and then 2 days per week. The tribunal found she reasonably understood that arrangement had been agreed, and that Mr Blackmore never told her before the return-to-work meeting that the business had changed so much that part-time working would no longer be possible.

The tribunal preferred the claimant's evidence about the 23 August 2018 meeting and preferred the handwritten notes over the later typed notes produced by the respondent. It found the typed notes were not an accurate record, that they misleadingly suggested Mr Tibble had attended and taken notes, and that Mr Blackmore did not tell the claimant she had to return full time or that failure to do so would end her employment. The letter of 6 September 2018 was found to be a dismissal letter, not simply a note wishing her well during maternity leave.

On liability, the tribunal held that the dismissal and related treatment were because the claimant was on maternity leave, so the pregnancy and maternity discrimination claim succeeded. The late-added s.99 ERA 1996 automatic unfair dismissal claim also succeeded on the same factual basis. The sex discrimination claim was not pursued separately once the tribunal applied s.18(7) Equality Act 2010. The claim for unauthorised deduction from wages failed for lack of evidence, while holiday pay for accrued but untaken leave was upheld and the tribunal also found dismissal without notice, entitling the claimant to notice pay in breach of contract.

On remedy, the tribunal calculated a gross weekly wage of £640.72 and a net weekly wage of £484. It awarded a basic award of £508, loss of earnings of £25,652, pension loss of £1,282.60, loss of statutory rights of £300, and injury to feelings of £12,000 in the middle Vento band. The written reasons state a compensatory award of £33,211.54 and a total award of £45,795.74, although the final calculations section contains an internal inconsistency on the holiday-pay figure used and the arithmetic leading to the total.