Employee awarded £14,000 for being sacked after telling her boss she was pregnant

Employee awarded £14,000 for being sacked after telling her boss she was pregnant

You would think that these days women are quite safe from being fired because they are pregnant. Sadly, a recent case in the Employment Tribunal in Kent proves otherwise.

The case involved a woman called Yuliia Khimicheva who started working for Key Promotions Ltd in March 2019. Ms. Khimicheva was 4 months into her new job, and still in her probationary period, when she found out she was pregnant.

“I don’t have time for this”

She told her manager that she was expecting a baby but, rather than gifts of flowers and cards, her manager reportedly told her: ‘I’m too busy for this’. A couple of weeks later, Ms. Khimicheva was dismissed, her manager blaming her dismissal on poor performance.

Ms. Khimicheva’s manager was also reported to have told her that the company wasn’t a charity and couldn’t pay someone for not enough work.

Did you presume the manager was a man? Sheepish confession: we did. But, no; the manager in question was Mrs Edwards, a Personnel Manager with something of a heavy touch.  

Ms. Khimichiva was awarded £14,820.17 in total for unfair dismissal and discrimination. About £6,000 of that was lost income and £4,500 was for injury to feelings.

Key take-aways

  1. Obviously, if an employee says they are pregnant, do not just fire them.

We know from experience that a lot of people are aware there is a 2-year qualifying period before an employee can bring a claim for unfair dismissal. This leads to some employers thinking they have free reign in the first 2 years to dismiss an employee without the risk of a claim.

But that is wrong. Employees have the right not to be discriminated against from day 1; in fact, it goes back to the recruitment process as well.

There are also certain types of dismissal that are automatically unfair, where there is no qualifying period of service.

  1. Employers cannot expect to get away with sham dismissals

In the above case, the employee was supposedly dismissed for poor performance.

However, the Employment Tribunal does not have to just accept the reason given by the employer. They will instead look at all the evidence, including HR files, emails, notes, text messages, phone conversations, timing etc. If the dismissal is challenged by an employee, their employer should expect all the circumstances to be fully scrutinised.  

  1. Probationary periods

Employment Judge Street gave some guidance in this case as to what would be expected from employers when it comes to probationary periods, including:

  • If the employee’s contract says that their probationary period will be reviewed at a certain time, the word “review” means there should actually be a discussion with the employee.
  • That employees are entitled to know and need to know when they have competed their probationary period.
  • That it would be unreasonable for an employer to extend an employee’s probationary period without discussing it with them or giving them notice.

The Judge also commented that:

“The end of a probationary period has significance for the employee, in terms of their status, in terms of the support they are given and can expect and…in terms of the notice they are entitled to.”  (para. 5.23)

This comment was not part of the formal decision in this case but it is a useful reminder of the purpose and meaning of probationary periods.

If you fancy reading the judgment, it is available here: Ms Y Khimicheva v Key Promotions (UK) Ltd: 2304738/2019 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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