Ms A Nettle v The Walt Disney Company Ltd: 2203231/2020
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 20 December 2021 |
| Citation | 2203231/2020 |
| Date | 20 December 2021 |
| Published date | 11 January 2022 |
| Court | Employment Tribunal |
| Subject Matter | Maternity and Pregnancy Rights |
Case Number: 2203231/2020
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EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS
Claimant Respondent
Ms A Nettle
v
The Walt Disney Company Limited
Heard at: London Central On: 12, 13, 14, 15 October 2021
Before: Employment Judge A James
Mr S Pearlman
Mr S Godecharle
Representation
For the Claimant: Mr G Daley, lay representative
For the Respondent: Mr M Sellwood, counsel
JUDGMENT
(1) The claims for unfavourable treatment because of pregnancy and/or
maternity (S.18 Equality Act 2010) are not upheld and are dismissed.
(2) The claims for victimisation (s.27 Equality Act 2010) are not upheld and
are dismissed.
REASONS
The Issues
1. The claims are for unfavourable treatment because of pregnancy/maternity
(section 18 (2), (3) and (4) Equality Act 2010) and for victimisation (section
27 Equality Act 2010). The agreed issues are set out in Annex A.
The proceedings
2 The hearing took place over four days. Evidence and submissions on
liability/remedy were dealt with on the first three days. It was arranged that on
Case Number: 2203231/2020
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the fourth day, the tribunal would make and then give its decision and
reasons. An oral judgement was delivered on the final day of the hearing, but
written reasons have since been requested.
3 The tribunal heard evidence from the claimant, and for the respondent from
Suzy Macleod, Director of Home in the Regional Softlines Team, Patrycja
Bienkiewicz, Category Director, Hannah Jones, HR Advisor (at the material
time) and James Thorley, Senior Employee Relations and Wellbeing
Manager. There was an agreed trial bundle of 411 pages and a
supplementary bundle of 75 pages.
Fact findings
4 The claimant joined the respondent in August 2016 on a 9 month fixed term
contract (as maternity cover). The contract was extended in or around March
2017 after a proposal by her director to extend her contract was approved.
5 In October 2017 Liz Shortreed became the new Vice President of Softlines,
replacing Fransesca Gianesin, who had been promoted to a senior role at
Disneyland Paris.
6 In March 2018 the claimant’s then Director Lorraine Brennan committed
suicide. The claimant and her colleagues were offered counselling by the
respondent.
7 In or around March 2018 the claimant was encouraged by FJ, then the
claimant’s line manager, to apply for promotion. The claimant did not succeed
at that time but was subsequently appointed to the permanent role of
‘Manager, Licensing Sales Home’.
8 Early in January 2019 the claimant discovered she was pregnant and began
to suffer from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) i.e. severe nausea and vomiting
in pregnancy. The claimant notified Suzy MacLeod about this, w/c 21 January
2019.
9 Ms Macleod emailed the claimant as follows on 25 January 2019:
Thank you for sending your sick note.
I can imagine this has come as a shock and I hope you are ok, I am here if
you need me, just let me know.
Keep me up to date with how you are doing.
Take Care
10 Ms Macleod emailed the claimant on 6 February 2019 to update her on steps
being taken to cover her work whilst she was absent. The email concluded:
Please keep me up to date on how you are doing, the team and I are
worried about you and if there is anything that you need or you need to
see some different faces please let us know.
11 The claimant emailed Ms Macleod on 7 February to say:
Thanks for your very supportive email Suzy. I have been most anxious
about being absent from work, particularly at this time of great change, so
it helps to know that you've got extra support from Isabel.
Case Number: 2203231/2020
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12 On 7 March 2019 an email from Ms Macleod stated:
Lovely to hear from you and I am sorry to hear that your condition remains
much the same. I have forwarded your sick note to HR and brought Liz up
to speed with how you are doing.
Regarding the next few weeks, my current thoughts are that we need to
wait and see how you are feeling, I know that Fiona has been talking with
you and offering some advice and you must now put both yourself and the
baby first.
13 The claimant was referred to Occupational Health (OH) on 23 March 2019.
They recommended a staggered return to work involving reduced hours over
a reduced number of days per week and to work from home. The report also
stated:
It is recommended for Ms Nettle to initially be provided with duties that do
not require too much client interaction; project work would be beneficial if
available”.
14 A letter was sent to the claimant about the claimant’s maternity rights on 26
March 2019, which confirmed amongst other things:
During the Maternity Leave period you can carry out up to 10 days' work,
as long as both you and your Line Manager have agreed for this to
happen, and you both agree on what work is to be done. Work doesn't
need to be limited to your normal job e.g. it can be used for training
events, team events or skills training. It is advisable that a minimum of 5
hours are worked and you will receive payment for a full days' salary.
15 On 9 April 2019 Ms MacLeod emailed Hannah Jones as follows:
My concern is that with her having been out of the business for a
significant length of time now we have had to re-structure the team in her
absence and therefore it would be good to understand from an HR
perspective the remit I have for re-organising her role to take account of
this and also the fact that if she is able to return it will only be for a limited
period of time before she departs on maternity leave.
16 Ms Jones replied to say that they would have to see what the WFH
recommendation was when they got the report through and that she would
discuss the matter further with her. She advised Ms Macleod to input the
claimant’s leave of absence onto the Head count management system
(HAMM).
17 On 18 April 2019 an email from Ms Macleod to the claimant stated:
As you know your sick leave is due to expire on Monday and I wanted to
see how you are feeling and if there has been any improvement in your
condition?
I am meeting with HR this afternoon to review the report from the
occupational therapist and to discuss the recommendations and
understand the next steps with regards a return to work but this obviously
depends on how you are feeling in yourself.
18 The claimant replied to the effect that she was feeling better but was still not
able to return to work. She expressed the hope that she would be able to
return to work after a few more weeks sickness absence.
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