A UK employment tribunal has awarded a pregnant employee 93,000 pounds (around ₹1 crore) in compensation after her boss unfairly dismissed her. According to the Independent, the woman’s employer, Ammar Kabir, terminated her via text, citing business difficulties and the need for an in-office worker. The message, which abruptly ended her employment and was punctuated with a “jazz hands” emoji, was ruled unjustified by the tribunal.
Notably, Mr Kabir’s remarks came after Paula Miluska requested to work from home due to severe morning sickness. The termination message concluded with a vague promise to “catch up outside of work” and a dismissive “jazz hands” emoji, which featured a smiling face with outstretched palms.
The UK employment tribunal awarded her 93,616.74 pounds in compensation after ruling that her pregnancy was the reason for her unfair dismissal from Roman Property Group Limited in Birmingham.
Ms. Miluska, an investment consultant, began experiencing morning sickness after learning of her pregnancy in October 2022. Due to increasing nausea, she requested to work from home, citing her midwife’s advice that this would be best during the peak period of pregnancy nausea.
She wrote in her text, “The midwife was saying that at the moment if I can work from home it’ll be best as these next two weeks are usually the peak of pregnancy nausea due to hormones. Also, she mentioned that when I go back to work you need to do a health and safety assessment. I’m not sure what that is.”
The tribunal judge noted aid there were “no other text messages” between the pair until 26 November when Mr Kabir asked Ms Miluska how she was feeling.
The following evening, Mr. Kabir asked Ms. Miluska if she could work a few days the next week, with shorter hours, but the tribunal deemed this request insincere. Despite Mr. Kabir’s claim that he needed her to cover his holiday absence, the tribunal concluded that this was merely a pretext and that Ms. Miluska’s pregnancy was the true reason for her termination.
