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Come On You Irons 3:34 Wed Sep 8
Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58473802
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Unbelievable judgement! She seems so entitled.
C&P below.
Alice Thompson wanted to work shorter hours to pick her daughter up from nursery, but ended up resigning.
The former estate agent spent tens of thousands of pounds pursuing the case against her former employer.
She was awarded £185,000 by an employment tribunal and this week told the BBC it was "a long, exhausting journey".
The tribunal ruled she had suffered indirect sex discrimination when the firm refused to consider her request.
Ms Thompson was a successful sales manager at a small independent estate agents in central London before she became pregnant in 2018.
"I'd put my heart and soul into an estate agency career for more than a decade," she told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.
"That's no mean feat, it's quite a male dominated environment to work in. And I'd worked really hard to build relationships with clients."
When she wanted to return to work after maternity leave, she asked her employer if she could work shorter hours, a four day week, and leave at 5pm, rather than the normal end-of-day at 6pm, to pick her daughter up from nursery.
Her manager said they couldn't afford for her to work part time.
"I made a request for flexible working that wasn't seriously considered," Ms Thompson says.
"I proposed what would have worked for me. If that didn't work for the company, I would have been more than happy to hear a counter offer, what might work for them.
"If they needed me for the full hours, maybe eight 'til five instead of nine 'til six, that's something I could have worked around.
"But it was shut down, every avenue, not listened to, not considered. And I was left with no other option but to resign.
"How are mums meant to have careers and families? It's 2021 not 1971."
She said she was motivated to pursue the legal challenge in order to prompt change.
"I've got a daughter and I didn't want her to experience the same treatment in 20, 30 years' time, when she's in the workplace."
She said her effort was worth it to "stand up for what is right".
The tribunal found that the firm's failure to consider more flexible working put Ms Thompson at a disadvantage, and upheld her claim. The judge awarded her almost £185,000 for loss of earnings, loss of pension contributions, injury to feelings and interest.
"Losing a job unexpectedly is always a cause of unhappiness, shock, and sometimes anger, as shown by the way many employees react to redundancy, even when there has been proper consultation, and even when it is never suggested their performance was not good enough," the tribunal found.
"Here the claimant resented that flexible working appeared not to be considered properly - as in our finding it was not - and felt that this was an injustice because of her sex, which it was."
Flexible working: Your rights
A flexible working request could involve shorter hours, different start and finish times, a job share or doing your hours over fewer days (compressed hours)
All employees who have been with a firm for at least 26 weeks have the right to make a flexible working request
If you make a request, your employer must consider if fairly and make a decision within a maximum of three months
However several other claims Ms Thompson made regarding her treatment, including discrimination because of pregnancy and maternity, and harassment, were denied by the tribunal.
The tribunal found that the director of the Manors estate agency, Paul Sellar, had moved a staff trip to New York from November to August so Ms Thompson could fly in when pregnant, and there were checks to see when the latest was that she could fly.
When there, she did not join the other six for a boat trip.
"She did go shopping and then back to the hotel. In our finding she was upset that the others had had a good time drinking and were late back. She may have felt excluded, but it was not because of any action on the part of the respondent," the judges said.
On the return journey from New York, Mr Sellar commented that Ms Thompson did not seem to have enjoyed the trip, and she replied that she had felt isolated and became tearful.
A few days later he suggested she should not have gone to New York.
"We can understand that Mr Sellar may have found her response ungrateful when the group trip had cost him £25,000," the judges said.
'Missing out'
While she was determined to pursue the legal action she told Woman's Hour it was challenging.
"It's a very emotional process once you've had a child. You have a new identity as a mum, you're trying to figure things out on that field, and then you're going back to work as well," said Ms Thompson.
But she said workplaces that didn't support returning mothers risked "missing out on some fantastic women, who have been really successful, because they are short-sighted and don't want to be flexible".
She said many women had reached out to her in the wake of the ruling, many of whom had similar experiences but didn't have the mental or financial capacity to pursue a claim.
"It did come at a huge financial cost... and obviously there's the risk you might not get that money back if you lose, but there's a greater picture to trying to make some small change in the world for the better."
The BBC approached Manors for comment.
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Replies - In Chronological Order ( Show Newest Messages First)
Coffee
3:37 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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Blockette?
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mallard
3:47 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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Six figure you say??!
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southbankbornnbred
3:48 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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The courts are giving out cash because of 'injury to feelings'?
Jesus...West Ham will need some deep pockets. So will I. That's me on a plane to Azerbaijan.
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collyrob
3:55 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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Fair play to her. Family comes first, companies should be more considerate of that.
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Mike Oxsaw
3:56 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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Stupid fucking company owner, that's what this is.
Could have got an extra 5 hours opening time at no cost to the business had he agreed to the 8am start.
But, 9-6, traditional, innit?
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goose
3:57 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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if the office is open 9-5 and the clients expect viewings during those hours, can you still demand to do 8-4?
and why is deemed 'indirect sex discrimination'? do only women do the nursery run?
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Block
4:09 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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She didn't resign, she was sacked.
She was sexually discriminated against. colleagues gave evidence and it was said on a staff night out, the owner of the business said "why did I employ a married woman of her age".
Shock, the BBC has got it's facts wrong.
She is entitled to this. But could have easily been avoided if the owners of Manors had a chat with the girl and worked a solution.
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Johnson
4:14 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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Some HR goon got £5k for getting 3 chicken nuggets for £1.99 after claiming they were "shocked and disillusioned".
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lufbra iron
4:24 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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From the outset, easy to conclude the company has fucked up here...
but that article is typically one sided. She was most probably someone in the organisation they were looking to get rid of for being a massive cunt.
but fair play to her she's pursued it in court and won which effectively proves my point...
she's had a win here but fuck me no employer will touch her from now. Short term gain.
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chim chim cha boo
4:30 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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Estate agents being cunts shocker.
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Wils
4:41 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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She is entitled to flexible working. Everyone is these days.
But reading that article it looks like her relationship with the firm had broken down for other reasons.
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Wils
4:41 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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She is entitled to flexible working. Everyone is these days.
But reading that article it looks like her relationship with the firm had broken down for other reasons.
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Block
4:42 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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lufbra iron 4:24 Wed Sep 8
Wrong, she's clearly a very good Estate Agent, and the company are fucking idiots for how they've handled this.
She'd walk into pretty much any agency she wishes to.
Why should she be stigmatised for being a woman who's had a baby? Her results speak for themselves.
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lufbra iron
4:44 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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if she was that good they would flex for her Block
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Block
4:47 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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There director clearly had an axe to grind, as she was a woman who has had a baby.
As I said earlier, the director spoke to a colleague and berated himself for employing her in the first place because she was a married woman of a certain age.
Why do you think Estate Agency is such a male dominated industry?
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Fifth Column
4:48 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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On some points like the New York thing she sounds like a self absorbed arse.
At the same time, regardless of the rights and wrongs, the company needs to understand the law. If it had engaged properly with her to discuss potential for flexible working and refused giving reasonable grounds for doing so then they wouldn't have been found liable. It shows how poorly run many companies are.
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lufbra iron
4:51 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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having a baby doesn't excuse you from behaving like an entitled cunt
he even moved a New York trip to accommodate her pregnancy and she still managed to make it all about her.
Its cost his company a few quid but i sense he's well rid of it.
she's clearly a cunt mate and unless you know her, hard to conclude from that article that 'shes clearly a very good estate agent'
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Block
4:54 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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Her salary was circa £160,000, from what I'd heard on the radio about it, she's based in Bournemouth so she'd have to be very good at her job to earn that sort of doe.
I'm not talking about her personality, just taking about the fact she was disliked due to being a pregnant woman.
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Block
4:55 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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No, I don't know her, BTW.
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Mike Oxsaw
4:55 Wed Sep 8
Re: Female estate agent 'refused' flexible working wins a six figure payout
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if the office is open 9-5...
Big fucking IF, there.
Not that hard to change the opening hours on a web page so that any potential customers understand.
Not that hard to open the office earlier, either; how many sales in that extra hour are needed to justify the costs?
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