"Darlington Nurses" vs County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust Tribunal Thread 4

[ThreeWordHarpy]

Thread 1, 7-Oct to 23-Oct; pre-hearing discussion, KD (day 1 of evidence) and BH (day 2).
Thread 2, 23-Oct to 28-Oct; BH (day 2), CH, JP, MG (day 3&4), TH, SS, ST, LL (day 4), JS, AT (day 5)
Thread 3, 28-Oct to 29-Oct, AT (day 5&6), TA (day 6)

Five nurses working at Darlington Memorial Hospital have filed a legal case suing their employer, an NHS trust, for sexual harassment and sex discrimination. The nurses object to sharing the women’s changing facilities with a male colleague, Rose, who identifies as female. The hearing started on October 20th, with evidence starting on October 22nd and is scheduled to last 3 weeks. To view the hearing online requests for access had to be made by October 17th. The hearing is being live tweeted by Tribunal Tweets who have background to this case on their substack. An alternative to X is to use Nitter: nitter.net/tribunaltweets or nitter.poast.org/tribunaltweets

The Judge made clear at the start of the public hearing on Day 1 that only TT or press have permission to tweet. If online observers see/hear something in the court that isn’t reported by TT, we don’t mention it until the next time there’s a break. This is a very cautious approach to avoid any accusations of “live reporting” on MN. Commentary on the content of TT tweets is fine as soon as they’re posted on X.

Key people:
C/Ns - Claimants, the Darlington nurses
R/T/Trust - Respondent, County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
J/EJ – Judge/Employment Judge Seamus Sweeney
NF - Niazi Fetto KC, barrister for claimants
SC - Simon Cheetham, KC, barrister for respondents
RH - Rose Henderson, trans identifying nurse
CG – Clare Gregory, ward manager
SW - Sue Williams, NHS Trust HR
KD – Karen Danson, first claimant to give evidence.
BH – Bethany Hutchison, claimant
AH – Alistair Hutchison, husband of Bethany
CH – Carly Hoy, claimant
JP – Jane Peveller, claimant
MG – Mary Anne (aka Annice) Grundy, claimant
TH – Tracy Hooper, claimant
SS – Siobhan Sinclair, witness for the claimants, retired from Trust
ST – Sharron Trevarrow, witness for the claimants, retired from Trust, former housekeeper and wellbeing officer
LL – Lisa Lockey, claimant
JP – Professor Jo Phoenix, expert witness
JS – Jane Shields, witness for the claimants
AT - Andrew Thacker, witness for the respondents, NHS trust Head of HR
TA – Tracy Atkinson, witness for the respondents, NHS trust HR.

I have to say, I’m finding the app MUCH easier to navigate than accessing the tribunal on browser

Hmm, i’ve been kicked out twice.

Those chickens seem to be coming between you and 100% attention to the tribunal, ILike, I seem to recall they were selfishly expecting to be fed yesterday too - couldn't you hack one of those robot vacuum cleaners so it could carry a dish of food out to them at set intervals, leaving you free to concentrate on the trib?😂
or if they are a distance from the house, one of those robot lawn mowers
[I'm giving this serious thought, you see😄]

Anyone keeping a tally of “concerns”?

If I come across concerns in my job, I have to act on them (public sector).

It was a clean-out they were needing yesterday Marie. And no, I could not hack a robot. My family often reminds me of the Incident With the Toaster. Nuff said.

My saintly DH has just brought coffee

You mean ‘Pexip Infinity Connect’ app?

I hope it works for you after breaks. At least two of us, including @ChimpanzeeThatMonkeyNews, keep getting kicked out. We hear WFTCHTJ, but when the courtroom is opened again the screen is black.

In my case the clerk is very quick to let me back in, but Chimpanzee finds it less reliable.

I had just logged on when the camera thingy happened. I was just shoveling a late breakfast into my face and nearly had a heart attack that I might have joined with camera enabled.

Please elaborate about the toaster…i won’t be able to concentrate if you don’t share this tale!

Yep. They used the comparator of a woman without the PC of GR walking around the changing rom without knickers on instead of a man without the PC of GR - the SC judgement confirmed that was the wrong comparator.

(Also bizarrely the ET seemed to have thought it was ok to walk around the changing room with no pants on, if IIRC. I wouldn't expect anyone to do this in a CR.)

Julia Davis would be marvellous to play this woman in the Netflix production.

Demanding little blighters, aren't they? In contrast to your nice coffee-supplying DH
I won't enquire about the Incident With the Toaster, it sounds traumatising

a chocolate teapot would suffice

The short version: anything mechanical dies or explodes and dies at some point when I use it. I dared to make toast. :(

10.50 and nothing happening yet?
Soooo...
ILike... do your chickens have names?

Deleted because I didn't read your post properly! Apols.

Oh I've just look at Nitter, it HAS started!!

I am not for a second suggesting that these senior HR staff are competent, but the fact that they would rather have the nation believe that they are utterly useless and stupid rather than tell the truth staggers me.

Tribunal Tweets (@tribunaltweets) | nitter.poast.org

Calvin, Hobbes and Gooey. Calvin lays blue eggs!

J cuts through TA's waffle that in receiving the complaint letter from the nurses she wasn't able to understand it, and got her to say that of course she was able to understand it. J is perhaps seeing this as obfuscatory.

I'm trying so hard not to comment on what I'm watching, but I'm banging my head on the bloody table right now.

Jesus wept.

I’m kinda picturing…

That last sentence is a masterclass in understatement

Sitting on my hands...

Unfuckingbelievably embarrassing.