THE Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has launched an appeal after losing an industrial tribunal brought by a woman who said she was discriminated against because she was undergoing the menopause.
Court officer Mandy Davies' was awarded more than £19,000 in compensation and was ordered to be reinstated after she challenged the decision to sack her.
She successfully claimed she was discriminated against and that her condition should have been considered a disability, but has now been left in limbo after the SCTS decided to return to court.
READ MORE: Woman's menopause ruled a disability in £19,000 tribunal claim
It is understood the move was made just days before Ms Davies was due to return to her job.
Her victory was one of only a handful of cases where the menopause has been cited in a disability claim, and came after she lost her job despite despite an unblemished record of 20 years' service.
A judgement on the case said that she had begun to suffer substantial medical problems related to the menopause, with symptoms including heavy bleeding - sometimes lasting for several weeks - stress, anxiety, palpitations, memory loss and pins and needles in her hands and feet.
She also endured tiredness, light-headedness and was at a risk of fainting, but kept working and was prescribed medicine for a bout of cystitis.
Ms Davies stored the drug - which came in granules that were distilled in liquid - in a pencil case on her desk and added it to her water jug which she drank from during the day.
However, on one occasion when she returned from an adjournment she found two men in the area drinking water from the jug, and became concerned they had consumed her medication.
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Voices were raised, and the judgment noted that one of the men “launched into a rant and made comments to the effect of ‘trying to poison the two old guys in the court’ and asking if he would grow ‘boobs’”.
A Health and Safety report into the incident concluded she had not shown the "values and behaviours" expected of SCTS staff, had shown no remorse, and had brought embarrassment to the organisation. She was later sacked for gross misconduct.
However, employment Judge Lucy Wiseman found that the process had been flawed as the H&S investigation had exceeded its remit, while Ms Davies was legitimately confused about whether she had put medicine in the water because of the symptoms she was experiencing.
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Judge Wiseman ruled that the SCTS had both unfairly dismissed Davies and discriminated against her, particularly as it had failed to consider her disability’s impact on her conduct.
A spokesman for the SCTS said: “We can confirm the SCTS has lodged an appeal with the Employment Appeal Tribunal.”
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