Mrs Harris has worked for a large corporate bank for 11 years. She has a good working relationship with all staff members and her manager in particular. In general, she feels fairly treated. Mrs Harris plans for a baby and, to her delight, falls pregnant. Upon informing her manager, she notices a shift in their relationship. She notices he is much more impatient and critical. Amongst other things, her manager excludes her from a meeting and drastically increases her workload. She eventually goes on maternity leave but starts earlier than she otherwise would have due to the stressful environment she was working in. Before she returns to work from maternity leave, she is called into a meeting and told her position is redundant as the job is no longer required. Mrs Harris knows they need somebody to do her job and that it cannot easily be absorbed by other employees.

Mrs Harris seeks legal advice and instructs solicitors. Her solicitors question her employer about the role which has allegedly disappeared or absorbed. Mrs Harris also has reason to believe, through her colleagues, that her job has not disappeared: in fact, the person recruited to cover her during her maternity leave is now permanent. A satisfactory response is not forthcoming from her employer and so a claim is lodged at the tribunal for pregnancy / maternity related discrimination. Her employers take legal advice and become very worried they might lose at a tribunal. They make considerable efforts to settle the case and it is resolved before it reaches the tribunal.
Mrs Harris proceeds to an employment tribunal and wins her case. As well as concluding her employer discriminated against her on the ground of maternity, they conclude that there was, in fact, a redundancy situation. However, they find that her claim for unfair dismissal is successful as there was a suitable alternative position available. This should have been offered to her ahead of other staff under Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999. She was entitled to be offered this position as the redundancy occurred whilst she was on maternity leave.