Sex discrimination at the Home Office

The Home Office has recently been found guilty of sex discrimination at an Employment Tribunal.

The discrimination was in the way it treated a woman who had time off while pregnant. The case centred around a maternity pay policy introduced by the department in 2007 which altered the criteria for qualification.

The Civil Servant in question had to take unpaid special leave in August 2006 and, after the birth of her baby, the department wrote to her to say that she would not qualify for contractual maternity pay.

The Employment Tribunal found that the policy discriminated against women because they were more likely than men to take unpaid leave. The judge decreed that the department had failed to consider the diversity related impact of the policy and condemned the timing of the letter to the employee as "extraordinary insensitive".

She was awarded compensation for loss of earnings and injury to feelings. The tribunal also imposed the maximum uplift of 50% on the department for failing to address her initial grievance.

In-tray Gossip

If I had been neglecting my partner and son over the last several weeks, I would have been keeping an eye on my in-tray instead of neglecting the sometimes overloaded thing.

I've heard a rumour that senior civil servants working close to Ministers in Cardiff Bay were allegedly given box tickets to Welsh home matches during this year's 6 Nations championship. At least 2 of them attended the Wales v England match this year courtesy of their ministerial masters. As my source has said, "Not a bad perk of the job".

Alegedly the Union are up-in-arms over this and believe that any spare tickets at the disposal of the Welsh Assembly Government should be raffled out among all staff of the Assembly Government, and not kept by those regarded as being down the bay. I wonder what Wales' Number 1 rugby fan thinks of this staff freebie?

On another matter our old friend Christopher Glamorganshire has reappeared. The latest rumour is that the Welsh Assembly Government is allegedly chasing him for legal costs circa £28k for being too ill to turn up to an employment tribunal. Rumour has it that the case is ongoing and will conclude in the next month or two. Betsan always seems to have the scoop on this, so I'm hoping she'll keep us posted.

I'll be dipping in and out of blogging from time to time, and won't be a complete stranger to blogging or my in-tray.

Complex office relationships

An acquaintance passed an internal journal to me pointing out this piece of legal advice from a submitted question [true story]. Makes you think!

Q. My manager has just told me I am to lose my job. I think this may be because I have been having an affair with one of my colleagues (although this has now ended). Please can you explain my rights?

A. If your employer sacks you because of the affair and you have worked for them at least a year, you may be able to raise a compliant of unfair dismissal with an employment tribunal.

If your affair was with a member of the opposite sex and only one of you is being asked to leave, you may also have grounds for a sex discrimination claim. This can be brought regardless of how long you have worked for your employer.

You may also make a claim if your affair was with a member of the same sex and there is evidence your dismissal was related to your sexual orientation.

If the relationship ended badly make sure bad feelings do not spill over into your working relationship, otherwise you could find yourself accused of sexual harassment or discrimination. This is a particular risk if you are in a position of seniority over your colleague. Either way, your employer will have to follow a proper disciplinary procedure, giving you a right to appeal, before they can dismiss you.

[Pippa Wagstaff is currently on a blogging break]