Rachel Meade awarded exemplary damages

Can someone remind me of the name of the TRA please? Doing some digging on something else, cheers.

Actually I don’t think this is a great result. The lack of a costs award results in a significant financial loss for Rachel (I believe the shortfall is in excess of £60k if not more)!!

The exemplary damages are therefore worthless - I’m so sorry 😔

Good judgment

"In view of this situation it is apparent that the views expressed by the
Claimant were not extreme but rather represented her expressing her opinion in
an ongoing public debate. The fact that the debate can often be vociferous, and
on occasion toxic, does not mean that the right to freedom of expression in a
democratic society should be restricted. An analogy was given during the hearing
was to the divisive position of Brexit in the period up to and beyond the 2016
referendum, to which the Respondents both acknowledged that an
employee/social worker would have been entitled to post their opinions, and we
consider that the same entitlement should have existed to another contentious
area of debate.

274. We consider it wholly inappropriate that an individual such as the Claimant espousing one side of the debate should be labelled discriminatory, transphobic and to pose a potential risk to vulnerable service users. That in effect equates her views as being equivalent to an employee/social worker espousing racially discriminatory or homophobic views. The opinions expressed by the Claimant could not sensibly be viewed as being transphobic when properly considered in their full context from an objective perspective, but rather her expressing an opinion contrary to the interpretation of legislation, or perhaps more accurately the amendment to existing legislation, advocated for by trans lobbying groups to include, but not limited to, Stonewall".

Fantastic result

Does anyone know how enforceable the ET’s “recommendations” are? What happens if SWE just double down with some Stonewall training instead?

Very good news.

Well done, Rachel. I suspect those 'exemplary' damages come to very little when held up against the years of strain and fear and frustration experienced by those going through the process. We really need to lobby for changes to the limit on damages in these most egregious cases so that employers really think twice before behaving so badly.

The retraining is hilarious! I wonder if there's going to be an income stream therefor a GC organisation?
Like gender training, only the opposite...

Same shit, different regulator.
I wonder if anyone at the chartered physiotherapists dares to raise this up the line.

I love that they have to show RMeade the training materials they will be using!

Why? The NMC regulate nurses and midwives, not Social Workers.

Gosh, that's quite something.

And not giving due weight to Forstater - were they taking advice from a lawyer who did not know the law? Tsk.

again, this is the result of pressure groups like Stonewall giving huge amounts of confidence to public and private sector employers, ie. that pressure group law is UK law.
Which it is not and never will
be. An expensive way for these eejits to discover. Stonewall share their opinions.
Opinions aren't the same as government policy.

My recollection may be faulty but does Rachael have colleagues who are also going to tribunal? Something to do with being reprimanded for NOT reporting Rachael's Facebook posts.

Westminster Council seem to accept they were wrong and are trying to figure out why.

SWE seem to be trying to work out how and why they are wrong considering they are not wrong! And no apology. Bet my bottom dollar Conway has a family member who is trans.
Colum Conway, chief executive of Social Work England, said the regulator was considering the judgement.
He added: “We recognise that this has been a particularly difficult case for those involved, conducted against a backdrop of debate on many issues within society in relation to freedom of expression. Our professional standards reflect the diversity of social work practice and the positive impact it has on people’s lives, families and communities.

Someone on twitter said they there were so many wins on the women’s rights front recently that it was like Terf pride month

Great result, well done Rachel.
I'm amazed Social Work England haven't apologised.

See this link Chickenrunning:

https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions/ms-r-meade-v-westminster-city-council-and-social-work-england-2200179-slash-2022-and-2211483-slash-2022

This is another sign of how the legal position in the UK is being brought back into line at the same time as the medical situation.

It is being revealed over and over that the current position is extremist and that this is way beyond the boundaries of reasonableness.

It feels like a hugely significant shift. I hope it will give pause in other countries over time.

Yes yes yes.

Rachel was the victim of a nasty accusation and unfortunately her employer and regulatory body were happy to jump in the bandwagon. Take note local authorities and professional bodies! I'm thrilled for Rachel and so grateful that she persevered

Some particularly enjoyable points from this:

Social Work England brought a Fitness to Practice process against Rachel Meade, which they abandoned at the last minute. Their complaint against her was so insulting & oppressive it got special mention as a reason for the exemplary damages.

Their lawyer in the FTP was Robin Moira White.

And they’ve been ordered to do some re-training to de-Stonewall-ize their practices.

Can someone link to the decision? I can't find it.

You'd like to think so, but never underestimate the stupidity and stubbornness of these people.

Yes!! Well done Rachel for not backing down!