Hostile Words Containing A Reference To Pregnancy Were Not Discriminatory

Warby v Wunda Group plc UKEAT/0434/11/CEA

In this case an employee and her manager had an acrimonious dispute about what had been agreed regarding the employee's wages. During the dispute both became convinced that the other was lying about what had previously been agreed.

In one meeting the manager brought up the fact of the employee's pregnancy and asked her why she had lied about having a miscarriage. The employee argued before the Tribunal that this amounted to unlawful harassment related to her sex and pregnancy because the words used, and therefore the conduct complained of, were inherently discriminatory. The employee noted that a man cannot be pregnant, and argued that discriminatory treatment could be automatically assumed by the Tribunal because what was in issue was her pregnancy.