A COMPANY where a Basingstoke borough councillor is director has been found to have discriminated against a mother while she was on maternity leave.

Curtin and Co was taken to an employment tribunal by former employee Sanja Veselinovic for discrimination, with a judge upholding one of her claims against them.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Councillor Paul Harvey, who has just been re-elected for Norden and who is leader of Basingstoke and Deane Independents, is a director at the planning politics and community development company, and was involved in the eight-day tribunal as a respondent to the claims against him and three others.

It was found that he had taken part of Ms Veselinovic’s HR role when she returned from maternity leave.

The judge dismissed various claims including unfair dismissal, sex discrimination, and victimisation.

However, the company, based in London and Cambridge, was found to have contravened the Equality Act 2020 by discriminating against Ms Veselinovic because she had “exercised her right to maternity leave”.

The 41-year-old mother-of-two was due to return to her work in HR for Curtin and Co following maternity leave in May 2019 but received a call from Dr Harvey the week before informing her that her role was at risk of redundancy.

She told the tribunal that she was “surprised and shocked” and said that Dr Harvey said it “would not be in her interests to return to the office”.

She withdrew this allegation at the start of the hearing, but still maintained that this was what he had said.

A transcript of the call which was recorded shows Dr Harvey saying: “there is no expectation on our part…in terms of coming back into the office on Monday, but we would like to meet with you on Tuesday”.

A report published following the tribunal states: “There is nothing untoward that we can see in the transcript in what he said and he did not say as the claimant alleges that it was not in her interests to return to the office.

“We accept, however, that this was genuinely misconstrued by the claimant as we accept her evidence that she did not listen again to the recording she made and Dr Harvey very nearly does say what she alleged.”

Ms Veselinovic returned to the office, but found she had no desk, she was denied access to relevant HR files, and that part of her role had been given to Dr Harvey.

In a report published after the tribunal, Judge Stout said: “The revoking of her access to HR files was thus a clear indication that part of her role had been removed without notification to her.”

The judge added: “We find that the real reasons why the claimant was denied access to the HR files were because she had taken maternity leave and because she had made protected disclosures.”

The report said: “…it was because she was on maternity leave that her HR duties were given to Dr Harvey and it is because she had taken maternity leave that they remained with him after she returned even though she had not at that point been made redundant.”

While on maternity leave the company had a management buy-out involving Dr Harvey and others, during which Ms Veselinovic relinquished her shareholding and directorship.

The judge found that Ms Veselinovic gave up her directorship of the company after being assured in January 2019 that her job was secure.

The report said: “…we find that the assurance was false and misleading”.

Referring to Ms Veselinovic being asked to sit at a different desk upon her return to work, the report said: “…we find that it was a detriment which made a significant contribution to making the claimant feel unwelcome on her return to the office”.

It added that she was subjected to this “because she had taken maternity leave”.

Speaking to the Gazette following the tribunal, Ms Veselinovic described her treatment by Curtin and Co as “the most traumatic experience of my life” adding: “It was extremely stressful, I was tearful for days. It affected me mentally and physically.”

The mum, who has not found another job since her redundancy, is now awaiting a meeting in October to decide compensation.

She said the tribunal had been “difficult” having to re-live the trauma of what happened but added: “I’m happy that I went all the way and pleased that there was justice.”

The Gazette asked Cllr Harvey for a comment and Curtin and Co responded to say: “The company took extensive HR and legal advice throughout the redundancy process and the tribunal has found that the redundancy was genuine and there was no unfair dismissal. Nor was there any sex discrimination or discrimination on the grounds of the taking of maternity leave, nor as a result of protected disclosures dating back to 2012.

“Unfortunately a small number of detriments were deemed to have been made and the company may be held liable for these. The company values its staff highly and takes every effort to work with them in a fair, co-operative and positive manner.”