A waitress with PTSD has won almost £20,000 after she was harshly sacked while she was on maternity leave. Kirsty Blyth said she visited the restaurant she worked at while she was on maternity leave and was 'flung out the shop with my nine-week-old in my arms'.
In an attempt to seek justice, the 26 year old new mother launched legal action against the eatery - and was quickly offered her job back. But Miss Blyth was discriminated against again as her boss refused to let the front-of-house waitress return to work when her maternity leave finished.
Miss Blyth, who struggles with PTSD, told how her mental health plummeted as she was left jobless and struggling to pay bills and support her baby daughter. Now, 'scarred' Miss Blyth has been awarded £18,307 after successfully suing Black Rooster Peri Peri Restaurant in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire.
She won claims of maternity and pregnancy discrimination, disability discrimination, and victimisation at the employment tribunal in Glasgow. It was heard Miss Blyth started working at the chicken restaurant in April 2019 and worked hours around her mental health counselling sessions and childcare.
However, there were 'moans and groans' about her having to attend counselling. In November 2020, while Miss Blyth visited the restaurant with her baby as her colleagues loved seeing the infant.
However, she was given a letter from director of BR Fast Foods Matthew Campbell, who had recently taken over the business, telling her that they would not be paying her maternity pay due to the 'impact of Covid' and was told she was sacked. Miss Blyth said: "[I was] distraught [and] was flung out the shop with my nine-week-old in my arms."
She said it was "embarrassing as it was done in front of staff members and customers". Miss Blyth launched an employment tribunal case against BR Fast Foods but cancelled it when Mr Campbell told her she had her job back.
However, she was never allowed to return to work following the end of her maternity leave in July 2021 and has not worked there since. She told the tribunal: "[I was] in limbo and left without money or a job, my mental health has gotten worse, I cannot support my daughter, and cannot pay my bills.
"I am honestly exhausted and appalled with my treatment. I have cried because I never once took a holiday when I worked for them, I always made myself available, always swapped to suit someone else, and this is how I'm treated after having my child. I don’t want another pregnant woman or mum in my position.
"I haven’t been able to enjoy my maternity leave due to stress, especially as I was ‘sacked’ before Christmas, [which] was my daughter's first and was tainted.”
It also had a big impact on her relationship with her partner. Miss Blyth added: "We have nearly separated over this and how I've become extremely angry and stressed all the time.
"I just feel like a complete failure to my daughter and partner and worthless about myself."
Concluding the case, Employment Judge Ian McPherson said: "I found Miss Blyth's testimony... compelling and convincing. I have no doubt, having heard her evidence, that she felt, and still feels, hurt about the restaurant's treatment of her.
"I was impressed by her tenacity and persistence in pursuing her claim, despite all the surrounding circumstances, entering a legal forum unknown to her, [the restaurant] not participating, as well as the pressures of normal domestic and family life, including her own PTSD."
