A boss fired one of his employees when she came back from maternity leave pregnant again.
Nikita Twitchen was preparing to return to her office administration assistant at First Grade Projects when she lost her job. The woman started her role at the Pontypridd-based business back in October 2021 and became pregnant not long after, heading on maternity leave in June 2022.
She told an employment tribunal how she had a ‘very good’ working relationship with managing director Jeremy Morgan, saying he had been ‘very responsive’ when she needed to speak to him.
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After welcoming her baby and gearing up to get back to work, Twitchen attended a return-to-work meeting with the boss on 17 February 2023. Apparently, this ‘started positively’ and Morgan said he was looking forward to the mum coming back to work and agreed her hours with her.
But it then ‘came as a shock’ when Twitchen revealed she was pregnant again, at eight weeks. He claimed he congratulated her, but she disagrees.
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So, when her maternity leave then came to an end on 26 March, no one from First Grade contacted her to confirm the return to work despite her expecting to be there on 3 April.
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Chasing a response from Morgan, he eventually responded: “It’s best to leave it until you have your routine in place.”
Then, on 4 April, Twitchen asked him about holiday entitlement for later in the year and he surprisingly ‘failed to respond substantively’.
After chasing up, Morgan phoned the mum on 18 April to tell her she was being made redundant because of financial difficulties and delays in some payments to the business.
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The boss went on to claim new software meant her role ‘would no longer exist’ and claimed a workshop manager had also been made redundant earlier that year – something Twitchen hadn’t heard of.
She went on to work at a launderette and a caravan park from June to October 2023, which the judge said she should be ‘commended’ for, working 'in very hot condition' up until 39 weeks.
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The judge added how Twitchen needed a job for her family's financial stability.
He also noted Morgan had made no mention of financial difficulties or redundancy at the February meeting, and, in fact, had said the business was doing well.
First Grade’s failure to produce evidence of any of this alleged stuff during the court case was criticised and at no stage did Twitchen get a written statement explaining the reasons for her dismissal.
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Plus, since she got the sack, the company had rebranded itself, hired people and invested in vehicles. The judge said these revelations ‘cast doubt’ on Morgan's claim that the company was in financial difficulty.
And so, it was found that Twitchen was dismissed because she was pregnant.
Morgan’s ‘change of attitude’ after learning of the pregnancy, the change in his ‘speed of response’ to messages, and the ‘complete lack of any coherent evidence-based alternative explanation’, despite ample opportunities to provide one, were taken into account.
The judge concluded the dismissal of Ms Twitchen was unfair, discriminatory, and must have caused her ‘real anxiety and distress over a period of time, having been dismissed when pregnant and losing her sense of financial security with all the family responsibilities that she had’.
FirstGrade and Morgan were ordered to pay compensation totalling £28,706.
First Grade Projects told WalesOnline in a statement: "We are extremely disappointed with the outcome of the tribunal. We are actively reviewing all relevant information and considering all available options. At this point in time we are unable to provide any further comment."
Jess Battison