When office manager Nikita Twitchen returned to work from maternity leave, she was eager for a warm re-welcome, not a layoff. But a few weeks after notifying her boss that she was pregnant once again, Twitchen was jobless.
The woman, who was 31, worked for First Grade Projects, a building company based in Pontypridd, Wales. She had started working for the company in October 2021 and went on maternity leave in June 2022.
In her statement to an employment tribunal, Twitchen stated that she’d had a “very good” relationship with managing director Jeremy Morgan, who’d been “responsive and supportive” when she was pregnant the first time.
So when she went to talk to Morgan on February 17, 2023, to make arrangements to come back, it began positively. Morgan reportedly was “looking forward” to her return and made arrangements to have hours of work. But that positive note didn’t carry on.
Twitchen indicated she was eight weeks pregnant for a second time. She told the tribunal she’d been treated to silence, but Morgan later claimed that he’d congratulated her.
The Sudden Silence
Once her maternity leave officially ended on March 26, Twitchen was looking forward to resuming her desk job on April 3. But she didn’t hear a peep from the company.
When she finally called Morgan, he brushed her off in a curt note: “It’s best to leave it until you have your routine in place.”
Then, when she inquired about her holiday entitlement, she received no actual response. Two weeks later, Morgan rang her not to say hello, but to inform her that she was being made redundant.
By Morgan, the firm was facing “financial woes” and “payment delays.”
He accused her of having been rendered obsolete due to new computer software, and that a workshop manager had been made redundant as well. But Twitchen replied that she’d heard nothing of the sort.
What the Judge Uncovered
The tribunal didn’t believe Morgan’s version either. Judge Robin Tuck pointed out that Morgan had never complained about any financial problems when they’d spoken in February; to the contrary, he’d informed him that business was fine.
When First Grade Projects was unable to produce a single document to back its allegations of redundancy, the tribunal found its explanation “incoherent.”
It also observed that, since the dismissal of Twitchen, the company had refurnished itself, recruited new staff, and purchased new cars, hardly signs of a struggling firm.
As the judge framed it, Morgan’s “change of attitude” when he heard that she was pregnant, his slower rate of communication, and his inability to come up with reasonable evidence “cast serious doubt” on his reports of terminating her.
Unfair and Discriminatory
The tribunal ruled that the dismissal of Twitchen was unfair and discriminatory, and that it had induced her to suffer “real anxiety and distress” when she required security for her growing family.
Once she’d been made redundant, Twitchen didn’t just sit back. She worked in a caravan park and a laundrette over the summer, until she was 39 weeks pregnant.
Even the judge commended her work ethic, adding that she worked in “very hot conditions” to provide for her family. First Grade Projects and Jeremy Morgan were subsequently ordered to pay damages of £28,706 (about $35,000).
Company Responds
Speaking after the verdict, First Grade Projects informed WalesOnline that they were “very disappointed with the result” and were “reviewing actively all information that’s relevant.” It stated further that it was “examining options that are available to it” but did not comment further.
As for Twitchen, the tribunal’s verdict not just reinstated her dignity, it sent a strong message that being pregnant twice in two years shouldn’t lose somebody their livelihood.
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