A tax expert who lost out on a job after saying people cannot change their biological sex has been awarded £100,000 compensation by an employment tribunal. Maya Forstater was awarded the payout after it was found she experienced discrimination and victimisation at work.
Her contract at the Centre for Global Development (CGD) think tank, where she worked as a researcher, was not renewed in March 2019 after she said biological sex cannot be changed. Her victory against the CGD comes after a high court judge ruled in June 2021 that her views on the “immutability of sex” are a “philosophical belief” protected by equality legislation and should be “tolerated in a pluralist society”.
In a judgment handed down on Friday, three judges at a London tribunal awarded Ms Forstater compensation of £91,500 and interest of £14,904.31. The compensation is for loss of earnings, injury to feelings and aggravated damages after the CGD did not renew her contract or visiting fellowship.
Ms Forstater told The Times on Friday: “I’m happy it’s over and happy I got significant compensation. I think it sends a message to employers that this is discrimination like any other discrimination and that the compensation can be significant.
“Organisations are going to have to rethink all of their approach to equality and diversity to make sure they really are following the law and not just what activists tell them.”
Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who has voiced her support for Ms Forstater before, took to Twitter to congratulate her on her payout. She wrote: “Congratulations to @MForstater, who receives over £100k in compensation from @cgdev, who were found to have discriminated against her due to her gender critical beliefs, which, as her case established, are worthy of respect in a democratic society. #SexMatters.”
Ms Forstater, who co-founded the Sex Matters campaign group, won three claims in her employment tribunal in July 2022 after appealing an earlier decision. She posted “inflammatory and objectionable” tweets over transgender people and opposed Government proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act to allow people to identify as the opposite sex, the tribunal was told.
But in July 2022, employment judge Andrew Glennie said the “complaints of direct discrimination because of belief are well founded” over the decision to not offer Ms Forstater a contract or renew a fellowship following her tweets. Judge Glennie said Ms Forstater’s complaint she was victimised after being removed from a company website was “well founded”.
Ms Forstater previously took her case to an employment tribunal on the grounds this constituted discrimination against her beliefs. Employment judge James Tayler originally dismissed her claim but High Court judge Mr Justice Choudhury later said the judgment had “erred in law”.
