A Zimbabwean healthcare worker has been awarded more than £25 000 after she was fired by bosses only days after arriving in the UK when they found out she was pregnant.
The Daily Mail reported on Wednesday, 19 July that Felicity Khupe did not tell bosses she was pregnant when offered employment.
She left Zimbabwe for Britain in 2022 while expecting her second child after a UK firm sponsored her to come.
The 30-year-old was fired after they found she was six months along on her second day.
Khupe then sued Comforting Hands Recruitment for unfair dismissal and maternity discrimination and a tribunal said she “missed out on the excitement of being a mother” and now “lives in fear of being deported”.
The company, based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, trains staff for deployment to residential homes and nursing homes across Yorkshire, East Riding and the North East.
Giving evidence to the tribunal, Khupe said when she said she was pregnant, the care coordinator said it was a bit tricky and she needed to talk to the director about it.
She said the director visited her the next day, telling her that “unfortunately” because of her pregnancy she could not continue working there. Said Khupe:
[She told me] she was cancelling her Course of Sponsorship so I have to go back to Zimbabwe and I have to do it as soon as possible as I would be given 30 days by the Home Office after which my visa would be cancelled.
Khupe further told the tribunal that she left company accommodation the following Saturday, just one week after arriving from Zimbabwe.
She said she would have taken six months of unpaid maternity leave if she had been able to keep her job, from October 2022 until April this year.
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