A policewoman has been awarded £93,000 in a sex discrimination case after claiming she was forced out of the service after returning from maternity leave.
Michelle Butler resigned from Hertfordshire Police with post-natal depression and exhaustion after her continual requests to work fixed daytime hours rather than rotating shifts with start times ranging from 7am to 11pm were ignored.
Since April 2003, the Flexible Working Regulations have given parents of children under six or disabled children under 18 the right to request flexible hours. The request does not have to be granted but there is an obligation for the employer to consider it properly.
The Watford employment tribunal heard that Miss Butler tried to transfer to day shifts so she could organise more regular childcare. She claimed that each time she tried to transfer to a department that would allow more flexible hours, Inspector Nigel Dalkin blocked her attempt.
Miss Butler also suggested a job swap with her partner, who was also a probation officer employed by Hertfordshire Police and worked fixed daytime hours, but this request was turned down.
She then tried to transfer to West Midlands police but a reference written by an ‘inexperienced’ sergeant wrongly stated she had taken 246 days off, when in fact the time was part of her maternity leave.
The tribunal ruled that there had been “no investigation as to whether or not Miss Butler could be accommodated” and that the force has ignored that fact she was “exhibiting signs of exhaustion”.
The £93,000 award comprises £43,447 in compensation for past wages and two years’ future lost wages, plus interest of £2,600.
