Following Donna Patterson’s 60k tribunal win against Morrisons, People Management asks legal experts if HR can expect an uptick in frugal claims
Donna Patterson’s employment tribunal win – without any legal representation – against supermarket giant Morrisons for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination has upped the ante for employees wanting to fight their own corner.
Morrisons was ordered to pay 60,442.25 to Patterson after she had her role changed from part time to full time while on maternity leave. According to charity Pregnant Then Screwed, which helped Patterson win her case, she was unable to afford the costly legal fees and decided to self-represent.
Patterson told People Management that self-representation wasn’t her “first option” but it was “a case of all my other options disappearing”, she explains. “I got a really good tip from Pregnant Then Screwed about checking with my home insurance if I had legal protection, and I thought at the beginning of this process that it would cover all of my costs.
“If I had realised from day one that I had to self-represent I’m not sure if I would have done it, but that’s hard to know for certain. I had put all of my hopes on the legal protection insurance working out, and when I found out they weren’t going to protect me I began contacting other solicitors, but they were too expensive.”
Patterson – who has been dubbed the ‘Erin Brockovich of Bradford’ for her win – adds that she didn’t know how many hours it would take for a...
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