Ms B was a young mother who was pregnant and also had a young child. She had been recently dismissed and was not sure where to turn for advice. Given that she was pregnant with a young child it was hard for her to get in to see anybody and so the telephone advice really suited her situation as things could be dealt with over the phone and by email, allowing her advisor to work around her.
Ms B fell pregnant whist working for her employer and informed them of this. She began to suffer from severe morning sickness which actually resulted in Ms B being admitted to hospital and being placed on medication. Whilst Ms B was actually hospitalized, she was contacted by her Manager and was told that they (her employer) were thinking about terminating her contract as she was showing signs of not being reliable. Ms B had previously completed her probation appraisal without any complaints. Ms B was then discharged from hospital.
Once Ms B was discharged she contacted the office. She was told that she had been dismissed and that she would receive a letter in the post shortly. Ms B then received a letter confirming her dismissal.
As Ms B came to us in good time we were able to initially give her advice over the phone in order to ease her initial concerns. As attempts of an early resolution of the matter were not successful, we prepared and issued Ms B's claim for sex discrimination and assisted her throughout the entire claim which included preparing her for attendance at the final hearing before the Tribunal. We were able to deal with the whole process using post and email in order to fit around Ms B's availability. Also, during the course of proceedings Ms B gave birth (following complications requiring further hospitalisation) to her child.
Ms B was successful in obtaining Judgment against and was awarded compensation for the injury to feelings and loss of earnings that she suffered.
