Tribunal rules Bamber Bridge agency discriminated against pregnant employee

A mum-of-one has spoken out about discrimination she faced after telling her employer she was pregnant.

Aimee Sanderson says she suffered extreme stress and unfair treatment before she was dismissed from her role at Bespoke Digital Agency in Bamber Bridge, in November 2017.

Last month an employment tribunal found Aimee had suffered unfair dismissal and unfair treatment due to her pregnancy under the Equality Act 2010.

She said: “It has been a horrible, high stress situation. How do you deal with that when you are new parents?”

The tribunal, held in Manchester Tribunal Centre, heard a number of complaints about the way the CEO Stephen Brennan and Lauren Grice, head of partnerships at the agency, spoke to Aimee after she announced her pregnancy.

Mr Brennan was ‘cold and negative’ in his reaction to the news, and Ms Grice made comments about how absence would have a negative impact on the team, when Aimee called in sick.

Responding to the claims, Bespoke Digital told the tribunal there were concerns about Aimee’s performance which amounted to gross misconduct, and were the reason she was dismissed.

However the tribunal found these concerns were exaggerated to justify the claim of gross misconduct, and amounted to unfair treatment of their employee.

Aimee, who stared work at the agency in January 2017, said: “Before I told them I was pregnant I would say we had a good working relationship, but it all changed.

“It has been so stressful, but I am glad I saw it through. I would say to any other woman going through this to record everything, send it to yourself in emails or write it down. “

Speaking on behalf of the Bespoke Digital, Lauren Grice said: “In 18 years as an employer we have consistently supported staff through family matters and have never before had to attend a tribunal.

“The employee was dismissed for reasons of performance and conduct in 2017.

“We are sharing further evidence with the relevant authorities and having taken advice will be submitting an appeal too.”

A Remedy Hearing will take place at Manchester Tribunal Centre on April 26.

The full ruling can be found here.