Single mother unfairly dismissed over change in working hours

The Employment Tribunal has ruled that a single mother was unfairly dismissed after she was suddenly required to go from working part time to full time.

It followed a prolonged campaign of victimisation during which she was indirectly discriminated against due to both her gender and the fact she was a part time worker.

The case involved Miss M Lewicka, who had worked as a part time receptionist at Hartwell Ford car dealership from 2014-2019.

In 2016, the company’s site in Watford underwent a refurbishment so Lewicka was moved to the Hemel Hempstead site from November 2016 until April 2018.

In March 2018, she filed a grievance against her manager Mark Benson, saying he had discriminated against her for six months.

The company investigated and upheld Lewicka’s claims. Benson was given a final written warning.

However, she was still excluded from ‘pizza Friday’ lunch by managers at the Watford site after filing the grievance. Other employees were invited.

Hartwell manager Mr Bradley said the pizza Fridays were informal and ad hoc, and took place after 1pm, when Lewicka had finished for the day.

However, she was never asked if she would like to attend and was ignored by a manager who went around taking orders from other employees.

Hartwell employees Karen Futcher and Bridget Watson stopped speaking to Lewicka after she made the claim against Benson. Watson regularly put down the phone on her.

In July, the company decided Lewicka needed to work full time hours, without taking into account her circumstances as a single mother.

She was told “things would get awkward” if she didn’t accept the new role.

By November 2018, she was considered at risk of redundancy. The company failed to offer her an alternative role and she was dismissed in January 2019.

Lewicka brought a claim of unfair dismissal and sex discrimination.

The tribunal ruled in her favour, saying that Bradley had a ‘fixed mindset’ when it came to dismissing part time employees.

Lewicka was the only part time employee and for her to be the only person to be considered for redundancy was an act of discrimination.

It was also noted that the term ‘pizza Friday’ suggested a regular event and that Lewicka was victimised when she was regularly excluded. 

It concluded that her treatment was “less favourable than a comparable full-time worker” and awarded her £23,086 compensation for injury to feelings, loss of earnings and loss of statutory rights. 

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