David HendersonScotland news correspondent
PA Media
Sandie Peggie, pictured with her lawyer Margaret Gribbon, welcomed the judgement, which found partially in her favour
It is a case that has generated headlines and interest around the world because it has been seen as a battleground between opposing views on sex and gender.
Now, after months of legal wrangling, nurse Sandie Peggie can claim a partial – and rather narrow – victory in her employment tribunal against NHS Fife.
At the centre of the case was a changing room and who was allowed to use it.
A transgender doctor Beth Upton – a biological male who identifies as a woman – was using that female changing room.
When Ms Peggie complained, she was accused of bullying and harassment and suspended. She then launched her own legal action.
The tribunal found health managers could and should have acted differently.
In a 312-page judgement, the tribunal ruled the health board harassed the nurse in a number of ways.
Although Ms Peggie did not succeed in the other legal claims she made against Dr Upton and against NHS Fife, she is likely to see this as a win.
She took on her employers, hauled them through the courts, and proved their treatment of her was unfair.
But the wider impact of this case remains to be seen.
This was the most high-profile and controversial employment tribunal to issue a finding since the landmark Supreme Court ruling earlier this year found that sex is biological under equality law.
What we appear to be seeing now is how individual tribunals and cases are reacting to that Supreme Court judgement.
There is another high-profile case going on in Darlington where nurses there objected to a transgender woman using a female changing room. That judgement is expected early next year.
Meanwhile, the UK government is considering guidance drawn up by the equalities watchdog the EHRC on how single sex spaces should operate.
Initial guidance was withdrawn after a legal challenge.
All this will surely mean big changes to how employers have to act.
Alamy
The tribunal dismissed allegations made against Dr Beth Upton
The first key part of this particular ruling suggests they will have to be even-handed in the way they deal with cases like this in future.
We now know that, in this tribunal’s finding, Ms Peggie was entitled to complain in a reasonable way when she found herself sharing a changing room with a transgender colleague.
It was not necessarily instantly bigoted, or illegal, or a sacking offence, to speak out, as some senior colleagues at NHS Fife seemed to think.
Instead, she was entitled to complain to her manager – and at that point action should have been taken to reflect her concerns.
It said Ms Peggie’s suspension was unfair and unjust. She was harassed by NHS Fife health board.
The second key point, according to the tribunal, is the law says that it is neither legal nor illegal for a transgender woman to use female changing rooms. What matters is whether a colleague complains about having to share that space.
This view is not binding and is likely to be contested in other cases.
However, bosses across the UK will take heed of this ruling.
They know they cannot immediately take sides – even if they want to.
Instead, they will have to strike a balance to ensure everyone’s rights are respected.
Further legal battles
For Ms Peggie, this is just the first of her legal battles.
The nurse has significant backing and she is taking forward three more court cases against people she thinks have treated her badly.
Ms Peggie is suing NHS Fife health board, its chief executive and its head of people and culture.
She is trying to push the health board to confirm it will exclude transgender women from female single-sex changing rooms – which she claims is yet to happen.
In a separate case, the nurse is suing three of the senior medical staff who gave evidence in her case, and the health board again.
She is also suing her trade union, the Royal College of Nursing, claiming it failed to protect her and help her when she was suspended. That is something they deny.
As these cases stack up, politicians argue and activists clash, it’s clear there is a lot at stake. And it is also clear we have not heard the last of Sandie Peggie.
