RAF officer wins tribunal award

An employment tribunal has awarded more than £16,000 to an RAF officer who claimed she was discriminated against because she fell pregnant, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has confirmed.

The un-named officer, from Oxford, said that she was removed from her post and had seen her promotion prospects delayed because she was expecting a baby.

RAF chiefs ordered her to quit her desk-based job in the Falkland Islands and return to the UK after they found out she was pregnant. This was despite her request to stay on in the role to be with her husband, who was also based on the same island.

The tribunal, sitting in Reading, heard she was forced to take leave to return to the Falkland Islands to be with her husband during her pregnancy, meaning she missed out on a performance review, delaying her promotion prospects.

Officials from the EHRC, which funded the case, said the tribunal ruled the Air Force had discriminated against the officer because of her pregnancy and awarded her more than £16,000.