Miss FB Yasin v Swift Lawyers Ltd — 2023

Miss Yasin worked for Swift Lawyers Ltd as a paralegal and had two maternity leaves before returning in November 2020. After reviewing the CWI files on her return, she was told on 3 March 2021 that she would be made redundant, and a consultation letter followed on 4 March 2021. The tribunal found that Mr Ahmed and Ms Adam had already decided, between 22 February and 3 March 2021, not to progress the CWI files and to make Miss Yasin redundant as a consequence.

The tribunal accepted that the dismissal was by reason of redundancy within s.139 ERA 1996, so the automatic unfair dismissal case under s.99 and s.105 ERA 1996 failed. It also rejected the argument that Mr Nolan should have been included in the redundancy pool, finding that his work was materially different because he was largely carrying out work on the G file and other litigation, while Miss Yasin was the only employee directly affected by the decision to close the CWI files.

The ordinary unfair dismissal claim succeeded because the respondent did not carry out genuine and meaningful consultation and did not properly consider suitable alternative employment. The tribunal found that Mrs Abbott told Miss Yasin that she was being made redundant before the consultation meeting, that the decision-makers did not engage directly with her in a meaningful way, and that the appeal process was poor. It also found that the respondent was not open about developments in the conveyancing department and should have explored the conveyancing assistant role, noting that a similar role was recruited in June 2021.

The pregnancy discrimination claim also succeeded. Although pregnancy was not found to be the immediate cause of dismissal, the tribunal held that it played a part in the way the respondent handled the dismissal process, including the lack of genuine consultation and the failure to consider alternative work. Compensation for the unfair dismissal and pregnancy discrimination claims was left to a remedy hearing on 10 March 2023, and the tribunal directed that any financial loss compensation would be reduced by 35% to reflect a 65% chance that Miss Yasin would have remained employed if treated fairly.