Bullied out of job, I believe due to pregnancy discrimination

cmthephoenix

Blatchford wrote: »

You are the second person to say that my style is like someone else's. Sorry to disappoint, but not the case. I'm not sure what forensic tools people are using to come to that conclusion, but they are way off. Personally I can't tell the difference between half the posters on here just by reading what they say. But maybe I am lacking in some reading skill.

No forensic tools or disappointment, just that you respect what someone has to say even if it isn't what the OP wants to hear. Cuddling and helping are not the same things. I myself want to be cuddled at the moment with words I want to hear but its not going to help me in my career choices.

[Deleted User]

Is it worth it? Probably not. Even if I was to win a case she’d not be sorry for treating me like dirt would she.

I regret not listening to what I had heard about her before. Previous staff who worked for her described her as a nasty piece of work, not paying people and a good friend of mine who is also a salon owner was not happy that she had tried to poach her own long serving staff using underhanded methods. I had initially turned down her job offer because she was very intimidating at interview.

The reason I ignored these things is that she offered amazing treatments and is very forward thinking. I felt this was somewhere i could really give the results to my clients.

You live and learn ����!♀️

Comms69

Jsacker wrote: »

I have to say, some of the replies you've gotten on here are quite brutal! The bottom line is that, if we take you at face value, you are a person who tried their best to earn some money whilst pregnant presumably to make a living for yourself and ended up off sick and out of work. Unless the accusations of poor performance are true (which a third party person like me and other forum users can't corroborate), it seems like a bad way of treating someone like! - no-one said it was a good way of treating someone. Just that it's a legal way of treating someone

The impression I get from reading your post is that it was very much one-way; she's alright jack as long as your pregnancy doesn't get in the way of the number of hours she wants you to do. - Generally how employment works.

Pregnancy discrimination is a tricky one really, but you might well have some basis to make a case (may be based on the assumption that you were an EMPLOYEE, mind you). Looking at specific sites:



Quite a bit of that seems to fit with your situation to be honest.... Lack of support, no health assessment. The sickness issue probably fits in more with "constructive dismissal" though, to be fair, as it sounds like you just upped sticks and left on the sick. - ACAS guidelines aren't law.

On the subject of your reputation, depending on whether this has been damaging to your reputation you might well have a case to claim for slander/libel (or whatever it is!) - if you don't know, should you be advising the OP about this? I suspect the OP doesn't have the £10k+ it takes to bring a slander claim assuming that the statements are false. If you have evidence of your awards and your 100% mystery shopper results then I'd be inclined to believe you over them as a fairly neutral third party.

Take users like Blatchford (and me, to be fair) with a pinch of salt! Ultimately, I would strongly recommend that you phone up ACAS first of all and go through the situation + the link I provided above. See if it could be counted as discrimination. ACAS aren't the greatest - understatement of the century. They're minimum wage, minimum training call centre operators , but they'll be a bit more employee-centric than some of the posters on here. - i think you'll find the vast majority of people here advise employees, rather than employers Maybe also speak to a solicitor (no win no fee / free consultation) armed with all of the specifics.

But I will caution you that it is a rocky path to take and it will always be a bit of a contentious one. No case is ever guaranteed, especially when the defence have some valid points ON PAPER (if your performance was bad then it is probably a fair enough reason to sack you). There is a good case to make for simply dropping it and moving on. - You know what else is a fair reason: "you're wearing white, pink, purple, blue, green" or "you ate lettuce, cabbage, chicken, beef, bread" or "you are / aren't wearing this or that brand of perfume" or literally ANY reason other than the 10 listed in the equality act (and even then there are exceptions)

Also, one final point is that you can start ACAS Conciliation with the employer to field these allegations and it gives both parties 1 month to either discuss a settlement or, if the employer doesn't, gives you the opportunity to go to tribunal. - which the OP is guaranteed to lose. Speak to ACAS about Conciliation because it might actually be worth going through that process as she might decide to settle during it. - not if she gets any advice, for example by posting on a forum like this I don't think there are many implications for starting Conciliation against an employer, but rather the implications only kick in if you take it further and submit the Employment Tribunal forms (but worth speaking to ACAS about that). - Except obviously looking foolish

Whatever you choose, I wish you all the best

There's nice advice, and there's correct advice - is it really more helpful to the OP to have your nice wishes, or facts?

Comms69

OliviaPearl wrote: »

Is it worth it? Probably not. Even if I was to win a case she’d not be sorry for treating me like dirt would she. - No. The law, correctly, doesn't prevent people from not liking you

I regret not listening to what I had heard about her before. Previous staff who worked for her described her as a nasty piece of work, not paying people and a good friend of mine who is also a salon owner was not happy that she had tried to poach her own long serving staff using underhanded methods. I had initially turned down her job offer because she was very intimidating at interview. - So in the future do your research about your employer

The reason I ignored these things is that she offered amazing treatments and is very forward thinking. I felt this was somewhere i could really give the results to my clients. - her client, you don't have clients

You live and learn ����!♀️

hopefully

[Deleted User]

Whoever you work for, you tend to find that the same clients will book in with you for certain treatments. This happened with me everywhere I worked. Especially in my case since I was one of a few qualified to carry out medical grade.

So my clients are whoever I’m doing treatments on, regardless of where I’m working.

[Deleted User]

My point about that is that if you work somewhere that carries or offers manual facials with only limited resources to address client concerns (usually ageing) it’s kind of frustrating for you as a therapist. So that has informed my choice about where I would take a job. Evidently though, it’s not that simple.

Exodi

Sometimes you must question the point of these forums. Generally those posting 'asking for advice' merely do so to validate their own pre-decided position and will disregard any opposing views.

The continuous justifications by OliviaPearl cement my thinking that she'll proceed regardless.

I do ask you to confirm in the (unlikely) scenario that you win, whether the employer rushes to tell you just how sorry they are for being mean, or instead, you gain 10 additional people that don't like you as they've just been made unemployed for your solicitors fees (and the payout that 'you don't care about').

That's of course assuming you win and this doesn't turn into a year long battle of resentment whilst raising a child and handing every bit of money you have to lawyers who couldn't care less about your case.

Undervalued

Exodi wrote: »

Sometimes you must question the point of these forums. Generally those posting 'asking for advice' merely do so to validate their own pre-decided position and will disregard any opposing views.

It is not just "these forums" but extends to many people paying for professional advice.

To some extent it is natural and I suspect most of us have been guilty of it at least to some degree. It is difficult to be truly open minded when any advice is not what you want to hear.

Either the adviser is "wrong" or, at best, the person seeking advice blames themselves for not explaining clearly enough why they are right!

I have seen far, far worse than this thread!

[Deleted User]

‘The continuous justifications by OliviaPearl cement my thinking that she'll proceed regardless.’

Justifications? At the end of the day I have been treated unfairly.

If you read the thread properly you can see that I’ve accepted that it would be difficult to prove that employers actions are due specifically to pregnancy.

Undervalued

OliviaPearl wrote: »

‘The continuous justifications by OliviaPearl cement my thinking that she'll proceed regardless.’

Justifications? At the end of the day I have been treated unfairly.

If you read the thread properly you can see that I’ve accepted that it would be difficult to prove that employers actions are due specifically to pregnancy.

In your opinion.

You may be right but people here have only heard one side of the story.