NHS trust 'violated dignity' of Darlington nurses

A group of Darlington nurses had their dignity "violated" by an NHS trust, a tribunal said today.

Newcastle Employment Tribunal said that "complaints of indirect sex discrimination" against County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust "are well founded and succeed" after the nurses were required to share a female-only changing room with a biological male who identifies as a woman.

However, it also said that several other "complaints of harassment" and "victimisation" are "not well founded and are dismissed."

Employment Judge Seamus Sweeney and tribunal members Denise Newey and Malcolm Brain said: “By requiring the Claimants to share a changing room with a biological male trans woman… the Respondent engaged in unwanted conduct related to sex and gender reassignment which had the effect of violating the dignity of the Claimants and creating for the Claimants a hostile, humiliating and degrading environment.

“By not taking seriously and declining to address the Claimants’ concerns of August and September 2023 and of 04 April 2024, regarding that part of the Transition in the Workplace Policy that afforded biological males access to the female changing room, the Respondent engaged in unwanted conduct related to sex and gender reassignment which had the effect of creating for the Claimants a hostile and intimidating environment.”

But the tribunal also said that "complaints of harassment" relating to the conduct of the biological male, his use of the female changing room, and behaviour outside it, were "not well founded and are dismissed". Likewise, complaints of "victimisation" were dismissed.

Background

The nurses alleged indirect discrimination, harassment, and victimisation after being forced to share a female-only changing room with a biological male colleague. This was under the Darlington and County Durham NHS Trust's Transitioning in the Workplace (TIW) policy.

Bethany Hutchison, Lisa Lockey, Tracy Hooper, Annice Grundy, Jane Peveller, Carly Hoy, and Karen Danson have described this process as a two-year long struggle to have their concerns taken seriously. They were supported by lawyers at the Christian Legal Centre - part of Christian Concern.

The tribunal heard that in August 2023, a now retired senior matron told nurses they had to accept a man in the female changing room because of "the inclusiveness of the NHS." The nurses' legal team pointed to the Equality Act: that sex means biological sex, and employers are permitted to provide single-sex facilities. They argued that the Trust’s policy was incompatible with existing law, and its claim of “balancing competing rights” was misleading because there were no competing rights in law, only a statutory duty to maintain sex-based separation in changing rooms.

At the end of the tribunal, Niazi Fetto KC, the nurses' barrister, said the policy "prescribed the disadvantageous treatment of biological females." He went on to argue that the Trust was prioritising the right of trans people over the women's "right not to have to change in front of a member of the opposite sex."

Fetto said multiple women had complained of the biological male's conduct in the changing room, and that it defied belief that every claimant was "mistaken for lying or making it up."

The Trust’s barrister, Simon Cheetham KC, said the nurses had unnecessarily "demonised" the biological male and had chosen to interpret things negatively and through a "negative prism." Cheetham said the nurses' treatment of the biological male had been "unkind and unjustified," with their allegations about conduct "exaggerated."

"Victory for common sense"

Responding to the ruling, Bethany Hutchison, Darlington nurse and President of the Darlington Nursing Union, said: “This is a victory for common sense and for every woman who simply wants to feel safe at work. Women deserve access to single-sex spaces without fear or intimidation. Forcing us to undress in front of a man was not only degrading but dangerous. Today’s ruling sends a clear message: the NHS cannot ignore women’s rights in the name of ideology.

“We stood up because we knew this was wrong. No woman should be forced to choose between her job and her safety. This ruling is a turning point, and we will keep fighting until every woman in the NHS is guaranteed the dignity and protection she deserves.”

Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which supported the nurses, Andrea Williams, said: “This judgment exposes the extent to which the NHS hierarchy has been captured by extreme gender ideology and its  willingness to sacrifice women’s safety and dignity in order to uphold it. Allowing a man into a female-only space because he claims to be a woman violates human dignity, common sense, the law of the land and  biblical truth.

“The NHS and the government should now give up their sabotage of clear judicial decisions and abide by the law which acknowledges that men are men and women are women.”