An engineer has lost her discrimination case against defence giant Leonardo UK over having to share women's toilets with transgender colleagues. Employment judge Michelle Sutherland dismissed all claims brought by Maria Kelly in a written judgment published on Wednesday, ruling the company's toilet access policy was a "proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim."
Kelly, a people and capability lead at the aerospace defence company, had brought claims of harassment and direct and indirect sex discrimination. The Edinburgh tribunal heard the case in October.
Judge Sutherland found no "disadvantage" caused by the policy. She ruled: "Any fear or privacy impact could be addressed by affected female staff making recourse to the single occupancy facilities. Any effect on risk of assault arising from 0.5% of men using the women's toilets instead of the men's toilets would not have changed the overall risk profile across toilet facilities generally. [...]"
The judgment noted that "one out of 9,500 employees raised a concern about the impact of the policy despite multiple means to do so."
Kelly plans appeal
Kelly said after the judgment: "I am of course disappointed by the judgment, which I believe fundamentally misunderstands both the law and my case. [...]" She confirmed she intends to appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal and will ask the court to expedite her appeal.
She argued the decision risks "further confounding the already widespread misunderstanding and defiance" of a UK Supreme Court ruling from April. That judgment defined the terms "woman" and "sex" in the 2010 Equality Act as referring to biological woman and biological sex.
Background
Kelly told the tribunal she had been aware of a transgender person using female toilets at her workplace since 2019 but did not raise concerns, fearing colleagues would label her "transphobic" or put her on a "naughty list." After an encounter with a transgender colleague in the female bathroom in March 2023, she began using what she described as a "secret" toilet at work.
Leonardo UK did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
