Sandie Peggie: Employment Tribunal, associated legal claims, and related matters - thread #64

[nauticant]

TLDR version: Sandie Peggie vs Royal College of Nursing is currently being heard. The hearing started on Wednesday 23 September 2026 and is scheduled to end on Thursday 1 October 2026.

Sandie Peggie, a nurse at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy (VH), brought claims in the employment tribunal against her employer; Fife Health Board (the Board) and another employee, Dr B Upton. Ms Peggie’s claims were of sexual harassment, harassment related to a protected belief, indirect discrimination and victimisation. Dr Upton claimed to be a transwoman, that is observed as male at birth but asserting a female gender identity.

The Employment Tribunal hearing started on Monday 3 February 2025 and after a prolonged process judgment was handed down on 8 December 2025. That judgment is being appealed and an appeal hearing is expected to take place in 2027.

Additional legal claims have been raised. Sandie Peggie is taking action against the Royal College of Nursing, against three senior managers who were witnesses in the employment tribunal - Dr Kate Searle, Dr Maggie Currer and Esther Davidson, against Carol Potter, the chief executive of NHS Fife, for victimisation, against NHS Fife for discrimination, and against its director of people and culture David Miller for harassment. In addition, Sandie Peggie is being investigated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council over fitness to practice.

The past proceedings were live tweeted by www.x.com/tribunaltweets. Tribunal Tweets are likely to be providing coverage in current and future proceedings. There's additional information on Tribunal Tweets' substack: www.tribunaltweets.substack.com/.

Links to previous threads #1 to #60 can be found in this thread: www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5379717-sandie-peggie-list-of-threads-covering-employment-tribunal-and-afterwards

Thread 61: www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5472628-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-following-employment-tribunal-judgment-thread-61 8 January 2026 to 3 August 2026

Thread 62: www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5562302-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-following-employment-tribunal-judgment-thread-62 3 August 2026 to 24 September 2026

Thread 63: www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5581909-sandie-peggie-employment-tribunal-associated-legal-claims-and-related-matters-thread-63 24 September 2026 to 27 September 2026

You read my mind. I was thinking that earlier.

Schrödinger's email will probably be mentioned again today. Maybe Nick Wallis will find it if he's allowed a proper look. Unfortunately can only dip in and out but will be catching up when I can.

It's my recollection that Felix didn't he work for the police, you'd never know, he rarely mentioned it, was more invested in the Caroline Farrow threads. I don't recall seeing him on the SP threads much if at all, but it's been a lot of posts on a lot of threads so I could easily have overlooked that, especially in the very busy ones during the live proceedings.

Nick Wallis's reports of attempting to read the bundle under the scrutiny of the clerks was very interesting.

@Lacksie - FPT, no I am not setting the first stage threshold too low. You are trying to set it too high. There is, for example, a case where an employee has been subjected to racist abuse by fellow workers but management failed to do anything about it and subsequently sacked the employee, initially describing it as redundancy but subsequently alleging theft. That was all the evidence. The racist abuse did not come from management and the employee had no other evidence to link the sacking to racism. The tribunal still found that it was enough to infer that the employee was sacked due to racial discrimination.

It may be that this tribunal will think that evidence of RCN's hostility to GC views is not enough to infer that any failings were due to unlawful discrimination, but case law suggests that many tribunals would consider it sufficient. Given that claimants will rarely have hard evidence that unlawful discrimination has taken place, the first stage threshold must be low. If it is too high, it will be almost impossible for anyone to prove unlawful discrimination.

Clerk is already letting people in

Shortest WFTCHTJ ever

Boo hoo i am at work until after lunch

Felix disappeared after overplaying his hand in one of his last posts in a boast about certain tactics re harassment. He particularly loved the attention from one particular FWR poster on maternity leave who kept engaging with him on we just don't know legal points.
He also had a thread elsewhere where he was very unhappy about women's sessions at his local David Lloyds I recall.

Apologies if this has already been posted, I had difficulty wading through the end of the last thread for some reason!

Article in the Express yesterday re Darlington Nursing Union and their appearance at today's ET https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2252158/nhs-nurses-royal-college-of-nursing-trans-biological-sex

I miss him at times! At least he was always consistent. You knew that he just didn't know anything!

haha poor old Felix. He overplayed his hand a lot, some might say more often than not - I couldn't possibly comment.

Speaking as a mediocre man myself, I'd love to have "the confidence of a mediocre man".

I'm in already, too, with about half the usual maximum number of people with me.

Somehow WFTCHTJ is reassuring. Now there's silence and a grey screen.

edit: the Clerk's name is one I don't recognise. Perhaps they are managing with fewer clerks today, so need to let people in early to get through us all.

@BezMills please don't ever change. Mediocre men should strive to be more Bez.
You give the rest of us hope.

I keep thinking I've been kicked out. I'm so used to half an hour of WFTCHTJ playing in the background that I feel cheated this morning!

Morning all!

I can c&p this morning, at least for a couple of hours, unless someone else wants to do it?

No, the union man would not have produced it then. All evidence should be in the bundle. A litigant may not ambush the other side with evidence that has not been disclosed. You need to get permission from the court to produce evidence that is not in the bundle.

If I understand correctly, RCN say the letter was sent by email rather than Royal Mail, presumably as an attachment. If that is the case, they really should have produced the email to show that the letter was sent.

I'm following on here as I'm on caring duties again so in and out. Patient currently asleep. I might have to match naps with them as I've been up all blooming night emptying urine bottles etc.. New Olympic sport category for carers.

I'm in

I can do this morning, but I can't do this afternoon; any chance you could do this afternoon? If so, let me do this morning. If not, maybe you'd start and shout when you feel like a break?

From TT

We will shortly begin reporting day 4 of Peggie vs Royal College of Nursing from Dundee Employment Tribunal. Peggie is taking action against the RCN, her union, for alleged failure to support her during her employment dispute with Fife Health Board.

Our coverage of previous days of the hearing, plus associated press, can be found here: https://tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/peggie-vs-the-royal-college-of-nursing

We report what we hear in good faith but do not provide a transcript of proceedings. There have been some sound issues during remote access to the court.

Employment tribunals in Scotland do not require written witness statements; witnesses give their evidence through examination and cross examination. We have been granted permission to live tweet and Employment Judge Sangster has given the following admonition to witnesses:

https://x.com/tribunaltweets/status/2104489490324889732/photo/1

Thank you v much.
I remember a time when I c&p-ed a lot, and it's evidence of the erosive power of everyday life that I'm sorry, I just don't have the capacity to do it now😔
Very much obliged to those who step up and c&p👏

to KittyWilkinson.

Hey Boily, next time you pop in to the Bluestocking, there's a message for you from me

Hiya! Yeah, okay, sounds good. I've not quite had enough coffee yet tbh. I'll take over later, but I might struggle after 3pm...

So yes, if you could start and I'll take over whenever?

[Taking over. It's possible I may be able to get back and relieve you c3pm too, just I'm not sure. After the lunch break I'll be away for sure.]

From TT:

Abbreviations:
SP/C - Sandie Peggie, claimant
RCN/R - Royal College of Nursing, respondent
NC - Naomi Cunningham, barrister for claimant
DH - David Hay KC, barrister for respondent
J/JS - Employment Judge Melanie Sangster

MG - Margaret Gribbon, solicitor for claimant
JF - Jemma Forester, solicitor for respondent
CR - changing room
DU - Dr Upton

I could do up to an hour this morning if it's helpful.