Members L Millar and G McKay Miss Sarah Twort v Coasters Wine Bar Oban Ltd — 2022

Miss Sarah Twort was employed by Coasters Wine Bar Oban Ltd as a bar manager. The tribunal accepted that she told Ms MacPhail she was pregnant around October 2021, that she needed antenatal appointments, and that Ms MacPhail made a comment that the pregnancy would make it easier to sell the pub. The tribunal also accepted that the claimant had emergency antenatal appointments because of bleeding and that she arranged cover for shifts at short notice.

After the 12 November 2021 drinks incident, Ms MacPhail asked whether Mr Clarke had paid for drinks because she had not seen a tab open. The claimant explained that he had paid as he went along and there was no further action at that stage. When the claimant later went off sick in early December 2021, the tribunal found that the absence was pregnancy-related and that Ms MacPhail did not respond to the claimant’s attempts to arrange a meeting. On 21 December 2021 the claimant received a letter saying she would be dismissed from 16 December 2021 unless she resigned or could prove the allegation. The tribunal found there had been no proper investigation, no disciplinary meeting, and no real opportunity for the claimant to answer the allegation.

The tribunal held that the reason or principal reason for dismissal was the claimant’s pregnancy and pregnancy-related absences, so the dismissal was automatically unfair under s.99(3)(a) ERA 1996 and unfavourable treatment because of pregnancy under s.18 EqA 2010. The harassment complaint under s.26 EqA 2010 was dismissed because pregnancy is not a protected characteristic for that section. Having upheld automatic unfair dismissal, the tribunal did not need to decide the alternative ordinary unfair dismissal question under s.98 ERA 1996.

For remedy, the tribunal awarded £10,873.69 for loss of earnings, £7,000 for injury to feelings, and £666.65 interest on the discrimination award. On the unfair dismissal side it awarded a basic award of £700, £500 for loss of statutory rights, a 25 percent ACAS uplift of £2,843.42, and a further £700 under s.38 Employment Act 2002 because the respondent had not provided full and accurate written particulars. The total award was £23,283.76.