Peggie sues RCN over lack of support in NHS Fife trans row
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Ms Peggie was suspended after raising objections to her colleague, Dr Beth Upton, who is transgender, using female facilities.
In response, Dr Upton complained to hospital management, alleging patient care failings and misgendering by the A&E nurse.
Ms Peggie was placed on special leave on December 30 and formally suspended on January 4. Shortly afterwards, she contacted her RCN representative to seek advice.
Earlier this week, following an internal investigation, NHS Fife cleared Ms Peggie of the charges, saying there was 'insufficient evidence to support a finding of misconduct'.
The decision was announced by her lawyer just hours before the resumption of the employment tribunal in Dundee after a five-month break.
Ms Peggie claims her treatment by her employers was unlawful under the 2010 Equality Act and has brought a case against both the health board and Dr Upton.
It has since emerged that NHS Fife's defence of their actions has cost the public purse more than £220,000.
The Herald understands Ms Peggie, who worked in A&E at Kirkcaldy's Victoria Hospital, claims her union turned its back on her because it 'had adopted gender identity belief as its institutional belief, and was therefore unwilling or unable to recognise that she was or might be entitled to insist on the maintenance of the female changing room as a single-sex space'.
She also claims the union failed to acknowledge her belief that she was experiencing discrimination and harassment from NHS Fife and Dr Upton.
Ms Peggie's lawyer, Margaret Gribbon of McGrade Employment Solicitors in Glasgow, said last night: 'The RCN's failure to act like a trade union ought to, has contributed to Sandie Peggie's mistreatment.
"They have repeatedly failed to exercise their industrial muscle to advocate for female members distressed because they are being deprived of genuine single-sex spaces to dress and undress at work.
'Had the RCN fulfilled the conventional role of a trade union, it is less likely that Sandie would have faced the ordeal of an 18-month disciplinary process and having to raise legal proceedings against Fife Health Board.'
The RCN's 2021 guide On the case: Advice, support and representation from the RCN states: 'It is your right to receive our support, guidance or representation regardless of your ethnic or national origins, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, gender reassignment, disability, marital status or civil partnership, age, pregnancy or any complaint you may have previously made about the RCN itself. If, after careful consideration, we find that we are unable to provide advice or representation, we will give you a clear and detailed explanation as to why we have taken this decision.'
Ms Peggie and her lawyer argue she has not been given any 'clear and detailed explanation' about the union's refusal to back her.
Were Ms Peggie to succeed in her case against the RCN, the trade union movement could face further claims from women alleging workplace mistreatment for defending single-sex spaces.
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In her case against the RCN, Ms Peggie is seeking compensation for unlawful discrimination. This would include damages for injury to feelings and recommendations to reduce the impact of the RCN's alleged discrimination.
When Ms Peggie learned of the union's refusal to support her, she approached her local MP at the time, Neale Hanvey. He advised her to contact feminist groups For Women Scotland and Sex Matters, who in turn referred her to employment lawyer Margaret Gribbon, who is now acting for her.
Last year, Ms Peggie launched a claim against NHS Fife, making various complaints against both the board and Dr Upton regarding the use of the women's changing room and her subsequent suspension.
The second part of the tribunal, currently sitting in Dundee, is expected to run for another week.
Ms Peggie has been on sick leave with stress since February and cites her treatment by NHS Fife as the sole reason.
An RCN spokesperson said: 'We have responded to the claim, and we deny all the allegations from Ms Peggie."
This is not the first time the RCN—the world's largest nursing union—has faced controversy over issues of sex and gender.
In 2021, policy analyst Lisa Mackenzie published a blog titled The Policing of Feminist Thought in the Workplace, detailing her treatment by the RCN when she worked as a policy officer there in 2017. She described being forced out 'because of my belief that women are disadvantaged and discriminated against on the basis of sex'.
'These views had provoked a breach of contract investigation and an intrusive attempt to police my private activities," she said. "This is ironic given that my then employer was a trade union whose aim is to represent the interests of its predominantly female membership.'
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