Sandie Peggie has said she felt “unsupported” and “discriminated against” by a union representative during a dispute over sharing a changing room with a transgender medic, an employment tribunal has heard.
The nurse also said she felt the union representative “was not taking it as seriously as I was” when she was placed on special leave after objecting to sharing a changing room with the junior doctor.
Ms Peggie is at the centre of a second employment tribunal, taking action against the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union in a dispute over her gender critical beliefs.
She has brought the legal case against her own union over what she claims was direct discrimination.
Ms Peggie previously brought a case against NHS Fife after sharing a changing room with transgender medic Dr Beth Upton at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital in December 2023.
The employment tribunal awarded Ms Peggie a partial victory against the health board in December last year, upholding claims of harassment against her employer, but dismissing allegations of discrimination, indirect discrimination and victimisation.
The high-profile case became a flashpoint in a row over gender rights, with a number of gender-critical groups, along with author JK Rowling, voicing support for the nurse.
Ms Peggie, who claims the RCN failed to adequately support her in the dispute with the health board, was the first to give evidence at the new tribunal on Wednesday.
She said she had spoken to RCN representative Stuart Fraser after she was placed on special leave by NHS Fife.
Ms Peggie said Mr Fraser “wasn’t taking it as seriously as I was”.
She told the hearing: “I felt like he thought I was being disciplined because I had done something wrong.”
Under questioning from her barrister Naomi Cunningham, Ms Peggie claimed there was “general chit chat” among NHS Fife staff about being uncomfortable with Dr Upton being allowed to use female changing rooms.
When asked why no-one else gave evidence to support her case, she said: “I think possibly it was fear… They had seen the way I had been treated at the hospital by senior staff members.”
Ms Peggie was also questioned by RCN lawyer David Hay KC.
She told Mr Hay “gender critical” was a term she only came to know over time.
“I didn’t believe that a man should be permitted to use the women’s changing facilities, and that that was more or less the same as being gender critical,” Ms Peggie said.
The tribunal also heard Ms Peggie discussed the content of the confrontation with Dr Upton with Mr Fraser during a phone call.
The nurse accepted she told Dr Upton her presence in the women’s changing facilities was the “same when they put a male in a female prison”.
She also accepted the comment was a reference to trans rapist Isla Bryson – formerly known as Adam Graham – who was initially sent to Cornton Vale women’s prison in Stirling after being found guilty in 2023 of raping two women, before then being moved to a male prison.
In his notes following their conversation, Mr Fraser said the comment “could be seen as discriminatory and is likely what resulted in the (discrimination allegations)” against Ms Peggie.
“I don’t think (Mr Fraser) was being judgmental, I just don’t think he was giving good advice,” Ms Peggie said.
She also said Mr Fraser was not agreeing that Dr Upton should not be in female changing areas.
Ms Peggie said: “I felt unsupported. Mainly because I felt I had been discriminated against.”
She accepted she did not raise those concerns with Mr Fraser at the time.
The nurse said it was “something (she) didn’t want to speak with him about because (she) had lost faith”.
Later, Mr Hay presented emails from senior RCN officer Gillian Tate that showed the union pushing the health board to provide clarity to employees about access to single-sex facilities on the basis of the Supreme Court case ruling.
Ms Peggie acknowledged that it “wasn’t right” when she previously said the RCN did not push the health board at all.
She told the tribunal: “I do believe before Ms Tate took over from Mr Fraser there hadn’t been much action.”
Former MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Neale Hanvey also gave evidence at the tribunal on Wednesday.
The former MP, who defected to the Alba Party from the SNP in 2021, said he had helped Ms Peggie when she contacted his office for assistance.
He said: “I could tell that both Sandie and her mum were really quite distressed.”
Mr Hanvey also said the union did not behave in the way he had expected it to with regard to Ms Peggie’s case.
Ms Peggie’s team are expected to claim the RCN failed to advise her in January 2024, after her suspension from NHS Fife, that she had a legal claim against her employer.
The nurse’s case also claims the union refused her request for legal support in January 2025 during NHS Fife’s handling of her disciplinary investigation.
The nurse is seeking a finding that the union discriminated against her because of her gender critical and sex realist beliefs.
The RCN denies the claims.
The tribunal, taking place before employment judge Melanie Sangster in Dundee, continues.
