A waitress who says she was thrown out of a Lanarkshire restaurant "with her baby in her arms" after being sacked on maternity leave has been awarded thousands of pounds in compensation.
An employment tribunal heard how Kirsty Blyth was left jobless and struggling to pay her bills when her boss at Coatbridge's Black Rooster Peri Peri restaurant refused to let her return to work.
The new mum says after visiting the restaurant she was "flung out the shop" with her nine-week-old baby in her arms.
The 26-year-old, who struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), was given a letter saying her maternity pay would not be forthcoming due to the "impact of COVID" and was told she was sacked.
She launched a legal action against the firm, but initially dropped the claim when she was offered her job back.
However, she wasn't allowed to return to work at the end of her maternity leave and raised the action again.
The Glasgow employment tribunal ruled in her favour in claims of maternity and pregnancy discrimination, disability discrimination, and victimisation, and she was awarded £18,307.
The hearing was told that Miss Blyth started working at the chicken restaurant in April 2019 and worked hours around her mental health counselling sessions and childcare.
But there were "moans and groans" about her having to attend counselling.
In November 2020, Miss Blyth visited the restaurant with her baby as her colleagues loved seeing the infant.
However, she was given a letter from director of BR Fast Foods, Matthew Campbell, who had recently taken over the business, informing her of the decision.
Miss Blyth said: "I was distraught and was flung out the shop with my nine week old in my arms."
She said it was "embarrassing as it was done in front or staff members and customers".
She told the tribunal: "I was in limbo and left without money or a job, my mental health has gotten worse, I cannot support my daughter, and cannot pay my bills.
"I am honestly exhausted and appalled with my treatment.
"I have cried because I never once took a holiday when I worked for them, I always made myself available, always swapped to suit someone else, and this is how I'm treated after having my child.
"I don't want another pregnant woman or mum in my position.
"I haven't been able to enjoy my maternity leave due to stress, especially as I was 'sacked' before Christmas. [It] was my daughter's first and was tainted."
It also had a big impact on her relationship with her partner.
Miss Blyth added: "We have nearly separated over this and how I've become extremely angry and stressed all the time.
"I just feel like a complete failure to my daughter and partner and worthless about myself."
Concluding the case, Employment Judge Ian McPherson said: "I found Miss Blyth's testimony compelling and convincing.
"I have no doubt, having heard her evidence, that she felt, and still feels, hurt about the restaurant's treatment of her.
"I was impressed by her tenacity and persistence in pursuing her claim, despite all the surrounding circumstances, entering a legal forum unknown to her, [the restaurant] not participating, as well as the pressures of normal domestic and family life, including her own PTSD."
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