The employee, in this case, worked as a Care Assistant. She was contracted to work 18 hours a week, but until around 3 months after she fell pregnant she often worked for significantly more than 18 hours a week.
At that stage, suffering from morning sickness, she asked for her shifts to be moved from the morning to the afternoon which her employer agreed to. However, without consulting her, her shifts were reduced from five a week to three. This meant that there was a reduction in her monthly pay and instead of qualifying for statutory maternity pay when she went on maternity leave she was instead only entitled to a maternity allowance.
The employee was required to keep up to date with her training in order to continue working in the nursing home. She missed some training sessions and when the final session clashed with her 20 week scan she was told that she would have to attend the session on that day, would not have another opportunity to attend it and would be suspended if she was not up to date with her training.
The employee took two weeks’ annual leave and started her maternity leave earlier than planned in order to avoid being suspended.
The employee raised a grievance about several concerns, including the reduction in her shifts and having been inaccurately informed that she would be entitled to statutory maternity pay. A decision was made on the grievance without speaking with the employee. The employer acknowledged that the information it had given about maternity pay had turned out to be inaccurate but said that that could not have been known at the time and acknowledged that there had been a delay in sending her a form to claim maternity allowance. The remainder of her grievance was dismissed.
Unhappy with the outcome, the employee sought to appeal, although the employer denied that it had received her appeal. The employee then submitted a letter of resignation giving two weeks’ notice. She later wrote to the employer setting out the reasons for her appeal against the grievance. Having failed to respond to a request for further information her appeal was not decided.
She then brought claims for constructive unfair dismissal and discrimination on grounds of pregnancy or maternity. She lost her claims because the tribunal was not satisfied that what happened with regard to the grievance procedure amounted to circumstances in which she was entitled to terminate the contract by reason of the employer’s conduct.
Allowing a subsequent appeal and substituting a finding that she was unfairly dismissed, the Employment Appeal Tribunal said that on the facts there was no other decision to which a reasonable tribunal, properly directed itself in law, could have come.
Case reference: Nicholson v Hazel House Nursing Home Limited