An employment tribunal has awarded a pregnant HR executive more than £21,000 after she was sent a line of laughing emojis by her former boss.
Ms Rezvani was among a group of employees who were made redundant without notice by Glasgow based AHRO Scientific Publishing in September 2023.
The workers, including Ms Rezvani, did not receive pay for work carried out in August and their wages from June and July were paid later than expected.
The claimant began working at the publishing firm in February 2023. AHRO was managed at that time by a majority shareholder Dr A Yaro. Mr Yaro, while not a director of the firm, referred to himself as director general. He also called himself Kalifa, which in Arabic means ruler or leader.
The company's financial standing became cause for concern when employees received their July wages late. Mr Yaro often told Ms Rezvani that the company was not making any money and he was on the lookout for investors.
Mr Yaro asked the claimant in August if she was interested in a position as on-site director. She said that she did not think she was suitable because she was pregnant. She confirmed this to him later that month by email.
At the end of August when employees were not paid many contacted Ms Rezvani as to when they would receive payment. At this time some decided to stop working.
Mr Yaro emailed Ms Rezvani on 9th September 2023 to ask if she would forward an email to all employees. This email stated that a decision had been made that ‘staff are made redundant for the next six weeks, although a handful would be retained’ It further said that those who had worked in August would be paid ‘after the modality of the share sales had been completed.’
Because she had been asked to forward the email to the other employees, Ms Rezvani assumed that she would be kept on for the time being. This was also the way the tribunal interpreted the situation.
Ms Rezvani emailed Mr Yaro on September 10th with several queries as to who would be made redundant and what he had meant by six weeks. She reminded Yaro that all the employees were eligible for a period of notice as well as redundancy pay and told him that a fair process should be followed.
While Mr Yaro said that staff would be recalled after six weeks, the tribunal noted that nothing was mentioned in the company employment contracts to allow for this.
Mr Rezvani had her own doubts about whether she still had a job. In an email to Mr Yaro on September 12th she commented that if she had not told him she was pregnant he would not be thinking about making her redundant. She did not receive a response to this email.
The claimant asked for her payslips on September 13th and Mr Yaro told her that he needed to pay the accountant in order for the P45s to be processed and he was not in a position to do this.
On September 22nd Mr Yaro emailed the claimant asking her to return her office key. She told him that she considered herself to still be an employee and asked if she could meet the new management. Mr Yaro replied that management would not meet staff on an individual basis. He also refused to pass her number on to them.
Ms Rezvani said that she was happy to wait until the new management got in touch with her directly regarding her key, to which Mr Yaro replied with a long line of laughing emojis.
After receiving the email Ms Rezvani considered her employment to be terminated. The tribunal learned that after receiving the email she had felt confusion and stress. She was particularly distressed because she was visibly pregnant and felt she may be disadvantaged should she apply for different positions.
The tribunal ruled that Mr Yaro had scoffed at the claimant when he sent the emojis. All his emails had been ‘steeped in ambiguity.’
Her dismissal amounted to unfavourable treatment because she was pregnant. There was a clear change of attitude when Mr Yaro heard that the claimant was pregnant and this was the reason he kept other staff while letting her go.
The tribunal ordered the company to pay Ms Rezvani £21,681.99 in compensation. This included awards for injury to feelings, her financial losses, a breach of contract concerning failure to provide a redundancy notice period, unpaid wages and pay in lieu of untaken holiday allowance.
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