Labour Women’s Declaration welcomes the Employment Tribunal’s finding that NHS Fife harassed nurse Sandie Peggie in its handling of her concerns about privacy and changing-room access. The Tribunal concluded that delayed complaint handling, procedural restrictions, and a failure to revoke shared access amounted to unlawful harassment. A remedy hearing will follow.
This finding matters. Many women across the UK report similar experiences of being discouraged, ignored or dismissed when raising concerns about privacy, dignity and single-sex spaces in their workplaces. The judgment confirms that institutions have a responsibility to respond promptly and appropriately when women raise legitimate objections.
We congratulate Sandie Peggie and her legal team – Naomi Cunningham, Charlotte Elves and Margaret Gribbon – for their work and determination in bringing this case forward. They have now announced that an appeal is being submitted, which Ben Cooper KC will lead, in relation to the discrimination claims . Ben Cooper represented Sex Matters who were interveners in the FWS successful Supreme Court judgment on the definition of sex.
Media reports have raised concerns about the inaccuracy of some legal citations used in the judgment. Labour Women’s Declaration recognises the importance of accuracy, transparency and public trust in the application of equality law, particularly where women rely on it to safeguard our privacy and dignity. In particular legal expert Michael Foran has published this analysis of the judgement.
The Peggie case, and many others including the Darlington nurses’ case, all expose a wider problem: many employers and public bodies lack clear, reliable guidance on how to implement the Equality Act 2010 in practice, even after the Supreme Court confirmed that “sex” in law refers to biological sex. Without the revised EHRC Code of Practice, organisations and their front line workers, often women, have been left uncertain, resulting in inconsistent approaches and placing the burden on individual women to defend rights that should already be clearly understood.
Labour Women’s Declaration urges the UK Government to accept and publish the revised EHRC guidance as a matter of urgency, so that public bodies and employers can apply the law consistently and ensure that women’s concerns about privacy and dignity are addressed promptly and respectfully.
Labour Women’s Declaration also welcomes Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Dame Jackie Baillie’s call on the Scottish Government to take appropriate steps to ensure that the Supreme Court’s decision and its implications are understood and fully implemented across the Scottish public sector and publicly-funded organisations. The UK Labour Government should also heed this call.
Women should not be required to raise complaints or pursue formal complaints or legal action simply to access the protections afforded to them under the Equality Act.
