Employment Tribunal Awards Over '100,000 In Compensation To Maya Forstater For Gender Critical Belief Discrimination

• Published date: 14 July 2023
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Contract of Employment, Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment, Employment Litigation/ Tribunals
• Law Firm: MacRoberts
• Author: Ms Eleanor Mannion

In Forstater v CGD Europe and others ET/2200909/2019 (30 June 2023), a tribunal awarded over '100,000 in compensation to Ms Forstater who had been found to have suffered direct discrimination due to her expression of gender critical beliefs.

In Forstater v CGD Europe and others ET/2200909/2019 (30 June 2023), a tribunal awarded over '100,000 in compensation to Ms Forstater who had been found to have suffered direct discrimination due to her expression of gender critical beliefs.

Background

The tribunal had previously found, at a liability hearing, that Ms Forstater had suffered direct discrimination on the ground of belief. Her Visiting Fellowship at the Center for Global Development (CGD) was not renewed and she was not offered an employment contract because she had expressed gender critical beliefs, which some of her colleagues had reported to CGD as being transphobic.

This followed on from a previous Employment Appeals Tribunal judgment where Ms Forstater's gender critical beliefs were held to be protected as a philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010).

Remedy

At a subsequent remedies hearing, on 30 June 2023, a tribunal awarded over '100,000 in compensation to Ms Forstater for the discrimination she had suffered.

The award included:

'25,000 for injury to feelings

The tribunal found the discriminatory acts were significant because the acts demonstrated CGD did not want to be associated with Ms Forstater, which subsequently affected her status within CGD and the wider professional sphere.

'2,000 in aggravated damages

It was considered that the public statements made by CGD were oppressive. It was noted that these overstated judicial observations made in the previous tribunal decisions and equated her belief to bigotry.

'14,000 for loss of earnings

The...