Rachel Meade awarded exemplary damages

[Lovelyview]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c18e91c6-e124-4a6d-a491-87031e762e6d?shareToken=6c9d5a2ee8339d1d0efeb44de2f7782a

This has made me feel ridiculously cheerful today 🙂

Social worker Rachel Meade has been awarded exemplary damages of £58,000 against Social Work England and Westminster City Council. She was suspended from her job as a social worker due to her gender critical beliefs.

'Awarding the damages, the tribunal judge, Richard Nicolle, said that Social Work England’s actions constituted a “serious abuse of its power as a regulatory body”.
The judge said that the regulator had “allowed its processes to be subverted to punish and suppress” Meade’s lawful political speech, and to do so on grounds of her protected beliefs. In doing so it had violated her right to free speech as protected under human rights law.
The judge added that the regulator had a “pre-ordained view” that Meade’s beliefs were “unacceptable”.'

Delighted to see the exemplary damages. Should be added deterrent to others and the women like Rachel bringing these cases go through so much I hope she is able to use this money for herself.

Brillliant.

Have just read the judgement which is breathtaking and depressing in equal measure.
What is noteworthy is how the transactivist complainer's views were accepted as factual with zero checks as to their personal and political bias. Which the tribunal were very critical of.
Thank you Rachel.

According to various legal bods on twitter, exemplary damages are rare. So perhaps finally these foolish organisations will start paying attention to the law of the land, not Stonewall law.

Plenty of squeaky bums at the NMC today I hope!

That's fantastic

Amazing news. Congratulations, Rachel!

Yes!! Well done Rachel for not backing down!

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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...