"Darlington Nurses" vs County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust Tribunal Thread 7

[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&7)
Thread 4, 29-Oct to 31-Oct; TA, AM (day 7) JB (day 8)
Thread 5, 31-Oct to 04-Nov; JB (day 8), SW, CG, JR (day 9)
Thread 6, 04-Nov to 05-Nov; RH (day 10), SW (day 11)

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, NHS 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, NHS trust Head of HR
TA – Tracy Atkinson, NHS trust HR.
AM – Andrew Moore, NHS Head of Workforce Experience
JB – Jillian Bailey, NHS Workforce Experience Manager
AT – Anna Telfer, NHS Deputy Director of Nursing
SW – Sandra Watson, Matron for General and Elective Surgery
JR – Jodie Robinson, manager of Rose

(For clarity, I'm not joking, he did actually say that.)

So it'll be a short day on Tuesday, possibly done by lunchtime.

A big thank you to BettyBooper for TT-ing this morning.

It was funny - a Northern Irish man of his age wouldn’t have had women in his family talking about the shame of menstrual flooding because men didn’t know women bled or were biological!

Beautiful way of acknowledging our very biological nature and why it differs so much from the male experience. What a fire cracker of a woman.

You are welcome!

(Though I'm glad it was a short one 😂)

That was a thoroughly excellent morning at the tribunal! Love how JP responded.

Ahhh, she was great. I wanted to post how well she was coming across at thirty seconds into her evidence but was too scared it would be live reporting.

Pity the judge cut her off now and then, he might not have wanted a masterclass in feminist sociology but I did... 😍

Is that what happened to your kin Dino 🦕? 😊

She was so great and so well natured with it all. The Judge clearly has spent time considering her evidence.

Gosh he must be very very very old if he is of the generation of men who don't know about menstruation! Even Irish men found out about menstruation a long time ago.

GPWM.

er.... oh wait I've just worked it out, so thank you

I can't understand how so much significance can be put on her evidence though.

Much as I enjoy the discussion and absolutely subscribe to her statements.

The law states single sex spaces are a requirement in workplaces. The tribunal does not have to question the evidence base to that law.

It is ridiculous to have to put forward arguments for single sex provision when 99.99% of the population expect and use them every day.

The atmosphere in the room must have been lovely.

JP evidence helps back up the assertion that the claimants expressed feelings of discomfort are true.

I love that Jo clarified that women are reminded every 28 days of their biology, though I would say it is more often than that, a week before my period, I get headaches, breast tenderness etc. It really is inescapable.

Then there is the uncertainty of exactly when you will get your period for women who don't have a consistent cycle.

I feel very very confident that this ET judge would have been following the slow progress of the Sandie Peggie Tribunal.

I feel quite certain that many "busy busy at work" men would be substantially unaware of many middle aged menstrual/continence issues.

That was a very satisfying morning. I'm sad not to have been able to see JP live, but from what has been reported here (Thanks to Justabaker and Betty), she done good.

I can't understand how so much significance can be out on her evidence though.

Perhaps towards the detriment suffered through fear, which goes to harassment.

@YouCantProveIt Men didnt exist when my kin died out. It was always the other dinosaurs you had to watch out for.

It’s always the other dinosaurs, isn’t it? But NADALT.

@Justabaker do you happen to know if any of the witness statements and written submissions will make it onto the website?

Thank you for your transcribing, and BettyBooper for the cut and pasting.

Only the HSE gets to enforce rules on single sex toilets.

In this employment tribunal the case for harassment hinges on women being more badly affected by mixed sex changing rooms than men, hence the need to put facts leading to that conclusion on the record.

That just made me laugh very loudly