A lawyer has won a sex discrimination case after she was made redundant when her female bosses decided she had been 'less focused' since going part time after having triplets. Intellectual property specialist Gemma Long was let go from British Gas after her managers - who were also lawyers - put pressure on her to work on her days off.
Mrs Long had been working part-time ever since giving birth to her three children and was criticised for her 'focus', despite covering two people's roles while only doing three days a week. She will now receive compensation after it was ruled the redundancy process was discriminatory as her 'personal circumstances as a mother of young children was unconsciously being held against her'.
The tribunal, held in Reading, Berks, heard Mrs Long was an experienced solicitor who started working for the energy giant as their intellectual property counsel in January 2012. In May 2016, she went on maternity leave and gave birth to triplets. The tribunal heard one of her sons had 'significant additional needs'.
