An employment tribunal has heard how a senior NHS manager joked with a pregnant colleague that she was ‘mad for having more kids’. Samina Ashraf brought a case against NHS England on the grounds of sex, racial and religious harassment following a comment made by manager David Marston during her maternity leave speech.
The comment was one of several complaints raised by Ms Ashraf about the treatment she received by Mr Marston. It was alleged that he excluded her from training opportunities following her maternity leave and that he became aggressive towards her after she informed him of a trip to Pakistan. Ms Ashraf also claimed that Mr Marston compared her to a male colleague when she asked to start a postgraduate degree on her return from maternity leave, saying ‘he is younger than you, single and does not have a kid’. She also alleged she was denied bereavement leave, which she considered religious discrimination.
The tribunal heard that Ms Ashraf had raised concerns about Mr Marston before her maternity leave in 2019, but no formal grievance was submitted. However, following receipt of Ms Ashraf’s tribunal claim in 2022, the NHS conducted an internal investigation but found no substantial evidence to support her allegations.
On hearing the evidence, the tribunal accepted that Mr Marston’s comment was meant to be a joke, and although the conduct was unwanted, it didn’t accept that Mr Marston could have known that. The tribunal dismissed all of Ms Ashraf’s claims for sex, religious and racial discrimination ruling that ‘difficulties of parenting’ can be felt regardless of race, sex or religion, and that whilst Mr Marston did make the comment about her decision to have more children, there was no evidence that this was motivated by discrimination or that it had the purpose or effect of harassment under the Equality Act 2010.
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