Allison Bailey sues TRA vets

[messybundles]

Looks like Allison was kicked out of her vets due to her gender critical beliefs, she's suing them with financial support from JKR using the EHRC's Akua Reindor KC.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14828079/JK-Rowling-friend-banned-vet-gender-beliefs-dog-fat.html

Can you think of any group other than sex-realist women that a CEO would fee free to to so publicly hate? It's chillingly misogynistic as well as stupid since women do more shopping than men. I buy absolutely everything for my kids, for example.

It’s not “more” protection under the Equality Act.
Its the same as everyone else!

The Vet team are entitled to believe in and support LGBTQ+ causes but there are limits as to how they manifest their beliefs. Sacking Allison as a client in the way they did (reasons and method completely different to previous 2 client sackings in 5 years) revealed their prejudice against her GC beliefs. They discriminated against her.

If you don’t agree with the law as applied to Allison, I assume you’d be happy to be rejected from a service just for being trans? You’d be happy to give up any protections for those with the characteristic of Gender Reassignment? No. I thought not. You should be pleased that this case has been won as it strengthens the protections for GR imo.

I thought the section in the judgement about Mr Ho was interesting. His activities on social media seemed to be/border on libellous. Accusing a black lesbian of being a homophobic white supremacist is quite a weird thing to do. I wonder how long it will be before there are court cases on that sort of stuff? So far people have posted appallingly hateful statements and haven’t considered they might be expressing their beliefs in a very problematic and unlawful way…

Any comments, OP? @messybundles

Quite right. I haven't used Ocado since Justine's revelation of how they cancelled Mumsnet for terfery. I wrote to them and got the old "it wasn't us, it was a contractor wot did it" They're evidently desperate for custom as I've just had an email offering a 25% discount on my next shop. But I'm now using one of their competitors.

Ohh can you recommend them? I’ve been shopping around but am not quite settled

It definitely smacks of misogyny. They seem to make these statements with a certain amount of relish. Absolute arseholes. It not only alienates customers, but also any employees who believe sex matters.

Absolutely. I don’t think they understand how deep a wound this is for many women…

I've just checked the UK weather for you, wims - it seems to be a bit cooler at the moment, but the temperature will start rising again around midweek.

So now is a good window of opportunity for getting in some of that 'seething' that Bee is so interested in, before it gets too damn hot for anything as energetic as seething hatred.
HTH!

@KnottyAuty
It's only Sainsbury's but I've been very pleased with them - prompt & efficient. Tbh we've got local local greengrocers, fishmongers, bakers etc that I use regularly but get lots of visitors so use online when there's babies, adults and animals coming to stay!
Not Ocado's biggest customer but just not going back in the light of their fuckwittery.

I was planning to get on with the hoovering. But now you mention it, I think I'll just sit here with a nice cup of tea and have a good old seethe.

Yes, and while I'm used to misogyny, the stupidity is very striking. I mean, I'm in charge of not only all my own money but all my husband's, and I make the vast majority of the purchasing decisions for a multiple person household. This is not an unusual setup for women with dependent DC. That's a loooooot of money being spent, and not spent.

@KnottyAuty
Quite!
The letter sent in spite after she’d asked for her dog’s records to be transferred!? There would have been no case to answer without that letter - I bet Ms Cook is in trouble behind the scenes for bringing all this down on her employers and discriminating against AB in their name. What an idiot!

This is the part that gets me: she was leaving. Let her go. Send her records as quickly as possible and wish her well. Everyone is happy. But no, they have to get a last dig in by sending a fuck you letter. I don't know how you can see that as anything but pure animus. What was the point except to get one last jab before she left?

So pleased she’s won!!!

People complaining she was able to bring this case in the first place can't see they want to cut off the tree branch they are sitting on.

Exactly this!

Those were my thoughts exactly! Right up there with “the cows did not mind the cricket”.

As someone in human medicine, rather than animal medicine, the vet practice came across as absolute amateurs.

You can't go writing perjorative comments like that in patient's notes, people have had the right to read their notes for ages now.

You can't have a SLT meeting that isn't minuted.

You can't ask people to leave without following your policy.

You can't say that you weren't sad someone's dog died, even if you were thinking it.

If your annoying client is a barrister, then all use your common sense and make sure your documentation is perfect or they will have you for breakfast, they do this kind of thing for fun.

And if Alison truly is the rudest person they have ever dealt with, I can't believe they actually run a public facing business as anyone in retail/healthcare can tell you.

I'd like to know, too. Have stuck with them for now but would like alternative.

ETA: ignore - have seen answer now.

All of this! I mean honestly how stupid do you have to be to behave like this???

Arrogant, more than stupid. TRSOH think they are untouchable.

Reading the full judgement I wonder if she was also treated differently because she was female. Behaviour that in a man would be called assertive is called aggressive in women.

Will the judge award low damages because she was seen as a difficult client? Or will they take the view that the practise had made mistakes and she was just pulling them up on it? Expecting someone to behave perfectly when a much loved pet is dying is certainly not being the "kind" people they thought they were.

Not nearly enough has been made of the fact that she had decided to leave anyway and a sensible practise would have sent the records quickly and breathed a sigh of relief. Sending the letter saying you arent welcome here anyway was petty and stupid.

@ChazsBrilliantAttitude - "... For the lawyers amongst us, the opening line of the judgment “Jonty is an Airedale Terrier” has wonderful echoes of Lord Denning"

Quite. "It was bluebell time in Kent..."

Yes, sending the letter was trying to punish her for wrongthink I believe. It was completely unnecessary. FOFO springs to mind.

And I agree 'aggressive' in a woman is often assertive in a man. My friend was called 'aggressive' by a junior member of staff when she calmly and in writing pointed out that he was not doing what he was contracted to do in his job, but doing something entirely different instead.

I also work with a woman who is very blunt and to the point. I like it myself, I much prefer not spending pointless time on lies and word salad and a pretence there's something more going on than the job (the company might claim they care about our wellbeing and identities but their actions suggest quite the opposite (below inflation pay rises)). Generally people definitely don't like this woman's directness when they'd accept it from a man.

The letter also shows that they think they're bulletproof - how high on your own sanctimony / lacking in intelligence do you have to be to do something that petty and vindictive to a barrister FFS. One who won a case against her own Chambers.

I also work with a woman who is very blunt and to the point. I like it myself, I much prefer not spending pointless time on lies and word salad

I'm glad someone else thinks like this. I've always found myself much more confident around someone who is clear about what they want rather than someone who says nice things about everything, as there is usually subtext to try and decipher and I get very anxious when this is left up to me.

Very interesting what you said above about Ocado. I don't feel like being a customer of theirs any more.

We have weekly deliveries of £300-400 each time, so it would be a big change for us to switch.

I wasn't keen on Sainsbury's when I shopped there, but could try them. Some of our neighbours have deliveries from them.