A Leeds mum has won £60k from Morrisons for being discriminated against when she came back to work after maternity leave.
Donna Patterson, from Wetherby, took the supermarket to court after getting back from having her second child to be asked to do full-time responsibilities despite her contract only being part time. Donna told BBC Radio 4 her department was restructured while she was on maternity leave and her previous buyer job no longer existed.
The 38-year-old mum-of-two told the BBC she was told to "prioritise things a bit better" to do the full-time work in her part-time hours. Donna eventually filed an internal grievance after saying she was being told things weren't getting finished on time.
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Donna said she felt the internal process "failed" her, and eventually ended up handing her notice in. She decided to take it to an employment tribunal - but found she couldn't get a solicitor for cheaper than £300 an hour.
Donna eventually decided to represent herself at the tribunal.
Donna told BBC Radio 4: "It was gruelling, it was exhausting. I was up until very late at night preparing, going through documents, and even during the hearing each day I would go home each evening and I would be drained. I had nothing left in me. But pretty much every night, I would lie in bed thinking 'I'm glad I've done this'.
"Weighing everything up, at least I know I tried, at least I know I gave it my best shot."
The Leeds mum cross-examined eight witnesses, some of whom she'd worked with, as part of the tribunal, and won against Morrisons. The supermarket has said it is considering an appeal.
The judge ruled for Donna on Friday, October 21, saying she had been "constructively dismissed" and called that dismissal "unfair". The judge added Donna had been subjected to "detriment of indirect sex discrimination after her maternity leave".
Morrisons said in a statement that it is "incredibly important" to the supermarket to welcome mothers back from maternity leave in a "thoughtful" way. The supermarket added: "However, we don't accept that we acted in an unfair way in this case and believe a number of the facts have been misrepresented and we are considering an appeal."
Donna told the BBC she wanted to go through with the case to help other parents in similar situations. She added that before the hearing she was constantly questioning whether she could see it through.
"There was a couple I felt really anxious about because these were people that I had known at the beginning of my career - they had supported me and taught me a lot about what I know about the industry and my job," Donna said, speaking about cross-examining witnesses.
"Others I wasn't as worried about because I fundamentally disagreed with how they had treated me and I felt like I had been failed, so I also saw it as an opportunity to ask questions that had repeatedly been ignored and I knew in the hearing they had sworn an oath so they had to give me answers they had previously avoided giving me."
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