A new mother in the UK is receiving up to $ 12,000 in damages – for not being invited for Christmas drinks while on maternity leave, according to UK reports.
Catriona Howie won a labor lawsuit against her employer, Holloways Of Ludlow, Croydon’s kitchen design company, for “hurting feelings” because of the invitation, the London Times said.
The company’s director, Sarah Nelson, said at the hearing that the company had not thrown a proper Christmas party in 2018 because it was in financial difficulty and instead just put $ 275 behind the counter at a local pub.
Accepting that Howie was not invited, Nelson insisted that it was just because “it was not a proper party and it was not a normal year,” said the UK newspaper.
Judge Corinna Ferguson accepted that “there was no deliberate decision” to exclude Howie – but decided that the reason she was not invited “was that no one thought of her”.
“If she had been working at that time, she would certainly have been invited. She was forgotten because she was on maternity leave, ”the judge told the court in South London.
The company was also convicted of discriminating against Howie, hiding her financial difficulties, because she had no idea that she would be fired soon after returning from leave.
The judge said that a compensation of up to $ 12,000 would be a “probable” award for “hurting feelings”. The company was also ordered to compensate it for $ 1,400 in unpaid wages and vacations.
Howie also filed for compensation for a colleague who mocked her for naming her baby Presley in honor of Elvis Presley, but the claim was dismissed, the report said.