Overview
- The tribunal in Newcastle found County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust subjected nurses to harassment by allowing a trans woman colleague to use a female changing room without providing suitable alternatives.
- The panel said the trust’s approach violated the claimants’ dignity and created a hostile, intimidating, humiliating and degrading environment.
- Rose Henderson, the trans colleague at the centre of the dispute, was found not to have personally harassed or victimised the claimants.
- The judgment criticised managers for dismissing concerns, telling staff they needed education on trans rights, and offering inadequate alternative facilities; it also upheld indirect sex discrimination and cited breaches of workplace regulations and Article 8 rights.
- The trust said it is reviewing the decision, while the nurses and campaigners say the outcome increases pressure for clear national guidance, with an updated EHRC code still awaiting ministerial approval.