Overview
- The Newcastle Employment Tribunal found County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust harassed nurses by allowing a trans woman colleague to use the female changing room without providing suitable alternatives.
- Judge Seamus Sweeney said the trust’s actions violated the nurses’ dignity and created a hostile, intimidating, humiliating and degrading environment, with managers dismissing concerns and directing staff to be “educated on trans rights.”
- The panel concluded that Rose Henderson, the trans colleague, did not personally harass or victimise the claimants.
- The ruling found breaches of workplace regulations and interference with the nurses’ Article 8 right to respect for private life, and it upheld a complaint of indirect sex discrimination.
- Eight nurses brought the case, the decision currently applies to seven with one claim stayed, the trust is reviewing the judgment, and the outcome adds pressure for consistent NHS and government guidance as the EHRC’s updated code awaits ministerial approval.