A tribunal in the UK has dismissed several claims of discrimination, indirect discrimination and victimisation made by nurse Sandie Peggie against the NHS Fife and trans doctor Beth Upton, after she complained about having to share the same changing rooms. At the same time, the tribunal upheld nurse Sandie Peggie’s claim of harassment from NHS Fife, in a case that legal experts say might have a wide impact on the current debate over single-sex spaces and trans rights in the UK.

UK nurse Sandie Peggie took action against NHS Fife and Dr Upton, where she contended that she was subject to unlawful harassment, discrimination, indirect discrimination and victimisation under the Equality Act for having to share a changing room with a trans person. The nurse had been placed on special leave following a row at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy on Christmas Eve 2023, after which Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment against her.

The case was heard by the employment tribunal in Dundee before Judge Sandy Kemp. On Monday, December 8, a 312-page ruling was delivered. While many news outlets are portraying the judgment as a win for nurse Sandie Peggie, legal experts are pointing out that only her claim of harassment was upheld, while the tribunal rejected all other claims.

The tribunal found that NHS Fife had harassed Peggie by failing to revoke permission for Dr Upton to use the changing rooms on an interim basis after the nurse complained. The tribunal held that the health board was right in granting permission to Dr Upton to use the changing room initially “as there had not been an indication of complaint about it”.

However, the ruling found that “once a complaint was made by Mrs Peggie alternatives should have been addressed and the permission should have been revoked on an interim basis”. The judgment stated that the NHS should have stopped allowing Dr Upton to use the changing rooms only until different work rotas took effect, so that the two wouldn’t be working together.

Moreover, the tribunal found that the health board had harassed the nurse by taking an unreasonable amount of time to investigate the allegations made by Dr Upton against her. The judgment also stated that officials were wrong in telling Peggie not to discuss the case and that they harassed her by making reference to patient care allegations.

However, the tribunal dismissed all other claims brought by Peggie, including all claims against Dr Upton. The nurse’s claims of discrimination and victimisation against NHS Fife did not succeed and the judgment found that the evidence brought by Dr Upton was “more reliable and materially more cohesive in nature”.

The tribunal considered evidence regarding an incident that took place in the changing room on Christmas Eve 2023 involving Sandie Peggie and Dr Upton. The judgement states that Peggie’s comments towards Dr Upton on that occasion “amounted to an incident of harassment” and breached the health board’s bullying and harassment policy.

The tribunal thus found that “Dr Upton had not falsely claimed that Mrs Peggie had been guilty of harassment, as Mrs Peggie had in some of her remarks impermissibly manifested her gender critical beliefs.”

In delivering the judgement, the ruling also considered the UK Supreme Court ruling on the definition of ‘woman’, and concluded that that decision did not result in it being inherently unlawful for a trans female, who is biologically male under the Act, to be given permission to use a female changing room at work.”

However, it also found “that having the protected characteristic of gender reassignment did not mean that permission to use the changing room was necessarily lawful.”

According to Jess O’Thomson of the non-profit Good Law Project, this judgment countered the argument that the UK Supreme Court ruling automatically resulted in a ban for trans people from single-sex spaces. “The tribunal was clear that the law does not now require banning trans people from single-sex spaces,” O’Thomson stated.

Human Rights Lawyer and Chief Exec of Trans Legal Clinic, Olivia Campbell-Cavendish, also commented on the judgement, stating: “The Tribunal has in fact found that trans women are women and shouldn’t be excluded from women’s single-sex spaces.

“This judgment exposes the gross misinformation being spread by groups who espouse extreme anti-trans rhetoric. They disingenuously claim that equality law has been rewritten to exclude trans people for political gain, even though this is not a legal reality.

“Today is a victory for Dr Upton and a victory for every trans person who has ever been made to feel unsafe in their own workplace, school or community. You are valid. You are protected. And we will continue to fight for you.”

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