A mother won $35,000 (£28,000) after her boss ordered her to clean toilets when she returned from maternity leave.
Sabbah Messum, 38, was working as an executive and HR assistant at Bradford Management Services in Leeds when she got pregnant, the tribunal heard.
Her boss, Dr. Gul Nawaz Akbar, reportedly got mad and started criticizing her, ordering her to do physically demanding work despite knowing about her pregnancy.
The panel concluded that Mrs. Messum was a victim of ‘discriminatory regime’ which penalized pregnant employees by creating an ‘intimidating’ and ‘hostile’ environment for them.
Dr. Akbar also refused to pay her sick leave to ‘punish and control’ her.
She was also falsely accused of stealing food from the canteen and was ordered to attend an investigatory meeting during her maternity leave.
Mrs. Messum was warned by her bosses that if she failed to show up, she would face a disciplinary hearing.
When the mother explained that she could not go because of her baby, her boss asked to see her at her home to conduct the investigatory meeting there.
The panel concluded that this was part of Dr. Akbar’s attempt ‘to create a hostile or intimidating environment for her.’
When Mrs. Messum returned to work after her maternity leave, she was demoted to housekeeping.
Months later, she resigned and sued the company for pregnancy discrimination, unfair dismissal, and harassment.
The mother-of-three has been awarded a total of £28,107.11 ($36, 588.01) in compensation for injury to feelings.
Employment Judge Sarah-Jane Davies said: “She could see that Dr Akbar was treating her in the same way he had treated other women and knew that he wanted to get rid of her.
“She considered that the allegation of theft and demoting her to do general clerical work and housekeeping, including toilet cleaning, were to degrade and humiliate her and force her to leave the company.”
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