Judgment in the legal challenge brought by seven nurses over a transgender colleague’s use of the female changing-rooms at work will not be given before Christmas, an employment tribunal judge has said.
Day surgery unit staff at Darlington Memorial Hospital are bringing a claim against Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust after Rose Henderson, who was born male but identifies as a woman, was allowed to use the women’s changing facilities.
Sitting in Newcastle, employment tribunal judge Seamus Sweeney heard closing submissions from the claimants and respondents on Tuesday.
At the end of the hearing, he said: “You will not get a decision this side of Christmas, given our commitments.
“It will be uppermost in our minds, everyone needs to get a decision on this. Please just bear with us and have some patience.”
The nurses claim that Rose stared at colleagues in the female changing-rooms, repeatedly asked one of them why she was not getting changed and walked round the room in boxer shorts.
Giving evidence last week, Rose said: “I am not the individual (the claimants) have painted me to be” and described how “upsetting” it had been to see “hordes of people” posting insults online after the case came to public attention.
Seven nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital leave after the final day at a landmark employment tribunal. (Image: NORTH NEWS)
The Darlington seven are bringing a claim for indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
In his closing submission, for the trust, Simon Cheetham KC claimed the nurses had exaggerated their evidence about Rose’s conduct.
In his final statement, he wrote: “Their single-minded pursuit of this issue has clouded their judgment.”
He said two of them had secretly recorded meetings at work – something, he said, that could be classed as misconduct.
The nurses on Tuesday (November 11). (Image: NORTH NEWS)
The nurses’ use of media interviews prior to the employment tribunal in which details about Rose’s private life emerged was also “an unattractive aspect of the case”, Mr Cheetham said.
“It is ironic (at the least) that in seeking to defend their own rights to privacy, the claimants have been happy to trample over the privacy of a fellow employee,” said Mr Cheetham, who added that this had a detrimental effect on Rose’s mental health.
Mr Cheetham said Rose was “demure and quietly spoken” when giving evidence, adding: “She did not fit the image created by the claimants and the media (in all its forms) of a predatory male who stares at women’s breasts and generally acts in inappropriate ways.”
Seven nurses from Darlington Memorial Hospital leave after the final day at a landmark employment tribunal at Newcastle County Court. (Image: NORTH NEWS)
Niazi Fetto KC, for the claimants, said the nurses’ complaints were “buried” by the trust’s investigations.
In his closing submission, he said: “Behind their mistreatment was a trust policy – the transitioning in the workplace (‘TIW’) policy – which prescribed the disadvantageous treatment of biological females and which the trust and its leadership unjustifiably treated as sacrosanct.
“The claimants’ repeated challenges to its harmful effects were shunned and ignored, then penalised and buried in a byzantine, oppressive and ineffectual investigative process.”
Mr Fetto said Rose lived with a female partner and had discussed with colleagues the possibility of conceiving a child.
The barrister wrote: “Rose therefore had chosen to make or let it be known at the workplace that he was sexually functional and his sexual orientation was towards women.”
In an oral submission, Mr Fetto said the claimants’ working environment was adversely affected from when they first raised complaints in July 2023.
What followed was, Mr Fetto said, “a catalogue of rebuttal, trivialisation, obfuscation, delay and also some intimidation”.
The hearing was concluded and judgment was reserved.
After the hearing Bethany Hutchison, who is the lead claimant, said: “The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotions, and we now hope and pray for justice in this matter, not just for us, but for countless women and girls across the country.
“Our lives took a very unexpected and sharp turn when we simply objected to having a man in our changing room, and it feels strange to relive the experience of the past two years as it is unfolded and minutely examined in the courtroom.
“We have put our careers on the line for raising concern and asking for the basic right and dignity to get changed in privacy. No one should have to go through what we have.
“We are hugely grateful to our legal team and the Christian Legal Centre, but also to the public from all walks of life and backgrounds for their amazing support throughout this time.
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