Nikita Twitchen launched an unfair dismissal claim after being made redundant from her role as an admin assistant at Pontypridd-based building firm First Grade Projects in April 2022.
She told an employment tribunal her back to work meeting with managing director Jeremy Morgan ‘started positively’, with Mr Morgan saying he was looking forward to her return.
But she said it ‘came as a shock’ to her boss when she revealed at the end of the sit-down that she was pregnant again.
Ms Twitchen described how her working relationship with Mr Morgan had been ‘very good’ and he was ‘very responsive’ when she needed to speak with him.
But when her maternity leave ended in March 2022, nobody from First Grade got in touch to discuss her return to work.
On April 4, she asked Mr Morgan about holiday entitlement for later in the year but he ‘failed to respond substantively’, which was out of character, the tribunal heard.
Ms Twitchen sent a chasing message on April 11 and again on April 18.
Later that day, Mr Morgan phoned her to say she was being made redundant because of financial difficulties and delays in some payments to the business.
He later claimed new software was being installed which meant her role ‘would no longer exist’.
But Judge Robin Harvard noted that Mr Morgan had made no mention of financial difficulties or redundancy at the February meeting, and in fact had said the business was doing well.
Even in the April phone call he did not mention any new software.
The judge criticised First Grade’s failure to ‘produce any evidence of the alleged financial difficulties or of the new software’ during the court case.
And at no stage did Ms Twitchen receive a written statement setting out the reasons for her dismissal.
Ms Twitchen noticed that since her dismissal the company had rebranded itself, hired people and invested in vehicles.
The judge said these revelations ‘cast doubt’ on Mr Morgan’s claim that the company was in financial difficulty.
Judge Havard found that Ms Twitchen was dismissed because she was pregnant.
The judge took into account Mr Morgan’s ‘change of attitude’ after learning of the pregnancy, the change in his ‘speed of response’ to messages, and the ‘complete lack of any coherent evidence-based alternative explanation’ despite ample opportunities to provide one.
He ruled the dismissal was unfair, discriminatory, and must have caused Ms Twitchen ‘real anxiety and distress over a period of time, having been dismissed when pregnant and losing her sense of financial security with all the family responsibilities that she had’.
Judge Havard ordered First Grade and Mr Morgan to pay compensation totalling £28,706.
The business, which is Swansea City’s back-of-shorts sponsor, told WalesOnline in a statement: ‘We are extremely disappointed with the outcome of the tribunal.
‘We are actively reviewing all relevant information and considering all available options. At this point in time we are unable to provide any further comment.’
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