Faye Russell Caldicott (a pseudonym) begins her trial in the Leeds Employment Tribunal today. She is my client and I have been supporting and assisting her in her claims for disability and religious and philosophical belief discrimination.
Her claims are against NHS England (NHSE) (represented by Capsticks) and relate to NHSE’s implementation of a trans-inclusive policy which allows trans-women (biological men who identify as women) to use women’s toilets and showers.
The Claimant asserts that this policy puts her at a substantial disadvantage. In common with many women, she believes that biological women should have an unfettered right to access single sex spaces, as indeed the law advocates. This is a woman who has suffered trauma through male sexual violence (resulting in PTSD) and who believes in biological sex. She is also a practising Muslim. Her protected characteristics illustrate the intersectionality of the need for single sex spaces.
The Respondent, at the time of writing and in spite of the very clear judgment of the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland, has not revised or updated its trans-inclusion policy. It has however conceded that this policy puts my client, as a woman and a woman who has PTSD, at a substantial disadvantage. Quite why NHS England continues to defend the claim is baffling however the Employment Tribunal must reach its decision unfettered by the court of public opinion and lobbying and based on the law of England and Wales.
The claimant will be represented at the hearing by Naomi Cunningham of Outer Temple Chambers and the hearing will be live tweeted on X by Tribunal Tweets.
This blog was written by Elizabeth McGlone, Managing Partner of didlaw and Head of Dispute Resolution. Elizabeth is a leading advocate for women and has assisted many claimants with their claims around sex realism.
