A hairdresser has won £7,500 after being sacked four days after telling her boss she was pregnant again.
Siobhan Black was still on maternity leave following the birth of her first child when she informed Evelyn Drain she was expecting for a second time.
The pair agreed that she would still return to work later that week, an employment tribunal heard. But at the end of her first day back she was told by Ms Drain that she was being laid off.
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The salon's owner claimed she was making her redundant for business reasons.
But the tribunal found Miss Black was being discriminated against for being pregnant and awarded her compensation.
The hearing was told the hairdresser had worked at Pat Drain Barbers, in Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire, since October 2019.
The barbers' had just four staff and struggled to turn a profit. the tribunal was told.
In 2020 when Miss Black became pregnant with her first child, Ms Drain tried to terminate her employment but dropped the matter when she mentioned her employment right, the tribunal heard.
Prior to the covid pandemic, the business was quiet and becoming unprofitable, and Ms Drain reduced staff hours as a result.
Staff agreed to work flexibly depending on the available work in order to safeguard everyone's employment.
Miss Black was furloughed from March 2020 to July 2020, and from July to April 2021, she was on maternity leave following the birth of her son.
She was due to return to work on April 11, the tribunal heard on April 7 she told Ms Drain she was pregnant again. On the day she came back, she was asked to stay behind after work and Ms Drain told her she was being let go.
"Ms Drain advised (Miss Black) that she was being paid off," the tribunal heard. "(Miss Black) asked if anyone else was being paid off and she was told no."
She left the business in May 2021, and no other staff members were made redundant, the hearing was told.
Miss Black was 'distressed and upset' by this and 'anxious' about supporting her children as she had separated from her partner and was a single mother.
Miss Black - who has not worked since - believed the stress caused her to have an epileptic fit.
Ms Drain claimed that there was a 'genuine redundancy situation' at the salon due to a lack of profits.
But Miss Black' argued there was no redundancy process and no consultation and that she was 'simply chosen for dismissal' 'very shortly' after she told Ms Drain about the pregnancy.
Employment Judge James Hendry ruled that she had been discriminated against.
He said: "The background to this case is an unfortunate one, and the tribunal has some sympathy with Ms Drain, who has kept the business going through very difficult times. We accepted that she had a good relationship with her staff, including Miss Black.
"There was in this no doubt in our minds that there was a difficult financial background."
Judge Hendry said the timing of the redundancy coming so soon after Miss Black informed Ms Drain she was pregnant was 'significant'.
"The timing and conjunction of events coupled with the past actions of Ms Drain when Miss Black first became pregnant coupled with lack of wider consultation was sufficient in our view to allow us to draw inferences of discrimination," he said.
"We accepted that the loss of Miss Black's job affected her greatly, particularly given the fact she had just discovered she was pregnant. She had received no warning that this was to happen and had no time to adjust or think about the situation she faced.
"She was upset and anxious as to how she could support her children.
"We regret that in relation to the timing and lack of consultation, we found Ms Drain to not be a persuasive witness.
"She was unable to prove to us on the balance of probabilities that the dismissal "was in no sense whatsoever on the grounds" of Miss Black's newly announced pregnancy. In these circumstances, we find the claim well founded."
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