PA mediaAn employment tribunal has found hospital bosses breached the dignity of a group of female nurses who complained about their changing room being used by a transgender woman.
Darlington Memorial Hospital claimed it.
Eight nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital claimed that manager Rose Henderson, a biological man who identifies as a woman, “punished” them for objecting to the use of a single-sex space.
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust claimed the nurses had “demonised” their colleagues and that the policy was in line with guidelines at the time.
In a partial victory for the nurses, the employment panel said the trust created a “hostile environment,” but other elements of their claim were unfounded.
Christian Concern supported the nurses in their claim, describing the decision as a “massive endorsement” and a “victory for common sense”.
The tribunal, held in Newcastle in October and November, heard that Rose, an operating department practitioner, who will be referred to by first name in the proceedings, had used the changing rooms since 2019.
Female nurses from the Day Surgery Unit (DSU) initially lodged the complaints in August 2023.
Changes to the Trust’s workplace policy allowed a person to use a single-gender space that corresponded to their gender identity, and anyone of that gender who objected could change elsewhere.
Around 26 nurses signed a letter complaining about Rose’s use and conduct in the changing rooms. Rose told the tribunal that the allegations, which included accusations of staring at naked women, were “false”.
In its 134-page judgment, the three-person panel chaired by employment judge Seamus Sweeney said the trust harassed and discriminated against nurses by requiring them to share changing rooms with a “biological male trans woman” and then not taking their concerns seriously.
Lisa Lockey (L) and Bethany Hutchison (R) say organizations need to listen to women
But the panel found the nurse’s allegations about Rose Henderson’s conduct in the changing rooms to be “not well founded” and rejected them, along with claims that the women were victimised.
The judgement said the trust’s policy had a “commendable and noble purpose” but had the effect of “violating the dignity” of nurses and “creating a hostile, humiliating and humiliating environment for them”.
PA mediaWhen nurses raised their concerns, they “really felt that they were not being taken seriously” and “were being despised by senior management and seen as troublemakers,”, the panel said.
No one in management or the trust’s human resources department ever “seriously considered” how their policy “might give rise to any form of discrimination against female employees,” the judgement said.
The panel also concluded that the nurses were “correct in their belief” that management was “not going to address the main issue”, which was the use of women’s changing rooms by “biological male trans women”.
David Robinson/GeographSimilarly, asking Rose to change elsewhere was “never in the plan” for managers, even though the “grim numerical reality” was that approximately 300 women used the changing rooms and Rose was the only trans person.
The panel said it would have been “reasonable and practicable” to ask Rose to replace him elsewhere.
Instead, a small room adjacent to the meeting room was converted into a changing room for those who complained.
Additionally, a human resources manager told nurses to “broaden their thinking”, which “made nurses feel they were not being taken seriously” and “reinforced the feeling that they were seen as transphobic or bigoted”, the panel said.
The tribunal said the nurses were “entitled to a remedy” and encouraged all parties to agree on one without the need for further hearings.
In view of this, the Trust’s policy was withdrawn by the Supreme Court decision The panel said the legal definition of ‘woman’ should be based on biological sex.
Speaking after the verdict was released, one of the nurses, Bethany Hutchison, said it was a “victory for common sense” and a “turning point”.
She said women were entitled to access single-sex spaces “without fear or intimidation” and that the trust’s policy had been “abusive” and “dangerous”.
Ms Hutchison said she was “absolutely delighted” with the verdict, which was a “massive vindication”, and that the verdict “showed we were right the whole time”.
Her colleague Lisa Lockie said organisations needed to “listen to women”.
We have experienced such silence; we were not allowed to complain and our trust was gaslighted,” she said.
She said she was made to feel like a “horrible person” for “having the audacity to complain”.
A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said the organisation was “taking time to review the decision” and would comment further “once we have had the opportunity to consider it in full”.
Rose has been contacted for comment.
