Feeling Overlooked

What is wrong with people these days? It seems that every day, I read something in the newspapers that makes me want to tear my hair out. The latest example occurred this morning when I came across a story about a woman suing her bosses for not congratulating her on her first anniversary at the company.

Rita Nunn claimed she felt "overlooked" on the work WhatsApp group chat. The employment panel was informed that bosses had previously acknowledged anniversaries in the chat, but had ceased the practice after staff complained about the overwhelming number of messages being sent.

I imagine she was advised that feeling "overlooked" is not a valid reason to sue your bosses, so she added pregnancy and age discrimination to her complaint. However, her claims were dismissed by Employment Judge Nicholas Cox, who stated that she was not treated unfavourably and such messages were "not an entitlement."

Ms Nunn began working at HEM estate management on 11 August 2022. She told the company she was pregnant in June 2023 and resigned from her position as a senior property manager in September 2024 after taking 10 months of maternity leave. Another colleague whose work anniversary occurred on 9 August 2023 also received no message of congratulations.

Ms Nunn argued that not receiving a message was an example of pregnancy discrimination. But the judge dismissed her claims. He said: "The failure to send a work anniversary congratulatory message was not unfavourable treatment."

He added: "Other employees would also not, by the relevant date, have been congratulated on first work anniversaries. Accordingly, the claim for pregnancy-related harassment is not well-founded and is dismissed."

Ms Nunn's other claims were also dismissed.

I believe costs can be awarded in employment tribunal cases in the UK, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Costs orders are usually reserved for cases involving serious misconduct, unreasonable behaviour, or claims that are clearly without merit.

If tribunals were more inclined to award costs, we might see a reduction in these time-consuming and financially draining actions.