A Cockermouth nurse’s appeal will be heard again after she was dismissed by the North Cumbria NHS trust following a dispute surrounding flexible working.
Gemma Dobson was employed within the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust’s Cockermouth Communuity Nursing Team in 2016 when the trust attempted to introduce more flexible working.
It introduced a requirement that community nurses work flexibly, including at weekends.
Ms Dobson was unable to comply because of caring responsibilities for her three children, two of whom are disabled.
She was later dismissed from her role and her claims of unfair dismissal and indirect discrimination were dismissed by an employment tribunal.
She appealed the decision and her case was heard at an Employment Appeal Tribunal hearing on Monday at the Rolls Building in London.
She appealed the findings of the original tribunal on seven grounds and she was granted permission to proceed on six of those.
They were:
- The tribunal was wrong to consider the group disadvantage of the small number of staff working in Ms Dobson’s team, instead of across the trust as a whole.
- The tribunal was wrong to ask Ms Dobson for evidence demonstrating that women as a group were (or would be) disadvantaged by the requirement to work flexibly.
- The tribunal should have considered whether the flexible working requirement put women at a particular disadvantage to men.
- The above errors render the analysis that the trust was justified in its actions unsafe.
- The tribunal was wrong to conclude that the dismissal was unfair.
All of the above grounds of appeal were upheld by Mr Justice Choudhury.
The matter will be remitted to the same tribunal to consider the issues of indirect discrimination and unfair dismissal again.
A spokeswoman for North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust said: “The Trust notes the judgment of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. The Trust does not believe that is appropriate to comment further at this stage given that the matter will return to the original Employment Tribunal.
“It is important to note that the Employment Appeal Tribunal did not find in its judgment that Mrs Dobson was discriminated against or unfairly dismissed by the Trust which is why the matter will return to the original Employment Tribunal for further consideration.”
