Estate agent forced out of job after maternity leave wins £48,000 compensation

An estate agent who was forced out of her job after not meeting her targets when returning from maternity leave has won almost £48,000 in compensation.

Murron Stewart, who was considered to be a 'strong performer', was told after her maternity leave that she needed to meet the full-time work targets after reducing her hours at Purplebricks, a tribunal heard.

The single mother was not contacted by the company throughout her entire maternity leave, and there was no discussion about how it was best for her to return to her role.

Ms Stewart became increasingly stressed about her job, where she developed vitiligo, a chronic skin condition, and had to go on antidepressants.

At a Scottish tribunal, Ms Stewart won her case of unfair dismissal and maternity discrimination and is now in line for compensation of £47,970.72.

Ms Stewart started working for Purplebricks estate agents in March 2022 as a local property agent, and in February 2023 she was promoted to an estate agent.

She told her manager that she was pregnant in July 2024, but she said that she did not want anyone else at work to know about her pregnancy after previous bad experiences.

Her manager announced her pregnancy on a team call, against Ms Stewart's wishes.

During her pregnancy, she suffered from severe morning sickness, and she was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe pregnancy complication.

Ms Stewart asked for a risk assessment to be carried out after her GP told her to, but this was not carried out for a number of months.

It was decided that she should work virtually until she had come back from her maternity leave.

In March 2024, Ms Stewart went on maternity leave, and she was aware that there was going to be a restructure of the company while she was away, so she wanted to be kept up to date and receive relevant training before she returned.

During her time off, a merger occurred that would change how Ms Stewart was expected to operate when she came back, but she was not contacted.

She did attend some virtual training days after asking the company, but this did not involve information about the restructure of the company.