Sex-bias case victory

A pregnant solicitor who was fired without warning and lost her baby a week later has won her sex discrimination claim against the law firm.

Personal injury solicitor Harriet Davies-Taheri worked in Maidenhead firm Proddow Mackay's Sheffield office, and found she was pregnant a month after her promotion to small claims manager in February last year.

During discussions about the promotion, a male Proddow Mackay partner allegedly said: 'I suppose I shouldn't ask if you are going to go off and have millions of babies, but if I give you this job and you leave I will go absolutely ballistic.'

A month after telling the firm of her pregnancy, Ms Davies-Taheri was suspended over allegations of gross misconduct.

She developed pre-eclampsia and the related HELLP syndrome the following month, and was dismissed by letter the week before she was admitted to hospital, where her baby was born four months early and died soon after birth.

Ms Davies-Taheri told an employment tribunal that she believed the stress and anxiety of her suspension led to the pre-eclampsia, which caused the death of her baby.

The Sheffield tribunal ruled last week that she was subject to sex discrimination, and was unfairly and wrongfully dismissed.

Full reasons have not yet been handed down, and it is not known whether the tribunal accepted the link between the stress and pre-eclampsia.

Compensation will be decided at a later date.

Ms Davies-Taheri said: 'I hope this decision acts as a warning to other firms and shows them that they cannot treat their employees in this way.'

A spokesman for Proddow Mackay denied that the disciplinary action was linked to the development of Ms Davies-Taheri's pre-eclampsia.

'We have never before been found to have unfairly dismissed or discriminated against anyone, and having trained Ms Davies-Taheri from her very beginnings in the legal profession, we deeply regret that matters ended as they did.'

Victoria MacCallum