Miss A Logan v ’s mother Flo Renewables — 2024

Miss A Logan applied in December 2023 for an administration assistant role and accepted an offer of a two-week paid trial starting on 8 January 2024. She worked from 9 January, was paid directly by Building Regulation Services Ltd, and the tribunal found that she was employed by the second respondent. Insofar as claims were made against Flo Renewables, the first respondent, they were dismissed. The disability discrimination claim had been withdrawn and was dismissed under Rule 52.

On 7 February 2024 the claimant told her manager, Alison Milne, that she was pregnant. On 16 February Mr McGurk sent WhatsApp messages saying the businesses had decided to restructure and were not in a position to offer her a job. The tribunal treated those messages as a dismissal and found that the reason, or principal reason, for the dismissal was more likely than not related to the claimant's pregnancy. It therefore upheld the unfair dismissal claim under section 99 ERA 1996 and the pregnancy or maternity discrimination claim under section 18 Equality Act 2010.

The tribunal found that the claimant had only five weeks and two days' service by 16 February 2024, so one week's notice was due under section 86(2) ERA 1996. No notice or payment in lieu was given, so it awarded £343.20 for notice pay. It also found that 18 hours of holiday had accrued and remained untaken, awarding £205.92, and that the claimant had been underpaid for the 19 days she worked, awarding £260.67 for unlawful deductions from wages. For the discrimination claim the tribunal awarded £6,338.71 for injury to feelings and £17,332.82 for loss of earnings, making the overall award £24,481.32.