Single mother wins discrimination case against the army

Service men get sent to Military Prison for refusal of orders and face the possibility of being discharged from service, yet she gets a £100,000 payout for refusing orders because she had a child during service?. Unbelievable.
 
The army is unrealistic towards single parents and childcare, they wont kick you out for being a single parent but tell you that child care is your problem and you must still be able to do your full range of duties.
Now this sounds fine but how exactly are you supposed to provide 6 months of childcare whilst on Op Tour, nice if family can help you out (maybe they can't or you have no family), or get 2 proffesional carers and some how pay for them on a soldiers wage.
So you should get out of the army then, but you can't because it takes 12 months to get out assuming you've done your minimum term, your left with the only option of refusing to do your job and getting charged or I suppose you could abandon your child which will bring its own problems.
 
PASONIX said:
And from reading more unbiased articles.

  • She had served in the Grenadines & St.Vincent for a number of years previous - & had a total of 7 years service in the army
  • The child was born during service (she joined the army before getting pregnant)
  • The army said that her relative could only enter on a limited visa and never liased with immigration to see what could be done regarding the childcare.
  • She lived in barracks at the base - and her commanding officer knew where she was and was informed as to why she wasn't there.
  • She joined up in March 2001 and was allowed to work restricted hours during the week and avoid weekend duties after the birth of her daughter in 2005.
  • Her argument "Provisions are made for single parents. However, these provisions are not extended to Foreign and Commonwealth soldiers." was totally correct & therefor won her the case.

Whilst I don't agree with the payout - or her action... the army should have seen this coming & done a little more for her considering her service and situation.
Click to expand...

Glad someone did a bit more digging, completely agree.
 
When people see how big a payout you can get out of things it doesnt surprise me that we see cases like this all the time.
 
thing is... its not descrimination,

they just ahd a guy on the radio, single dad - couldnt make time - got asked to leave the army.

it doesnt matter, man or woman, if you cant do the job for whatever reason you should be asked to leave and you should NOT claim compensation - and if you do you should be counter sued for wasting the MOD's time.

its redicolous/
 
Why "should" the army have made more of an attempt to sort out visa issues- a civvy company would not have had to do any of it- it is disgraceful that the courts went for the payout - its the taxpayer who pays, thus less money for the army to provide essentials!!!!:mad::mad:

We allow this to happen in this country, regardless of the fact she was from the comonwealth, I am sure that this wasnt the firsty time she had not "turned up" for duty - It would have been the result of a number of occasions if her CO decided that he would risk the publicity to charge her!
 
im all for employment rights etc, but if you join the military you cannot expect the same rights as in other employment, this is disgraceful and the fact she wanted her sister to get a visa says it all really!
 
I_M_Weasel said:
The army is unrealistic towards single parents and childcare, they wont kick you out for being a single parent but tell you that child care is your problem and you must still be able to do your full range of duties.
Now this sounds fine but how exactly are you supposed to provide 6 months of childcare whilst on Op Tour, nice if family can help you out (maybe they can't or you have no family), or get 2 proffesional carers and some how pay for them on a soldiers wage.
So you should get out of the army then, but you can't because it takes 12 months to get out assuming you've done your minimum term, your left with the only option of refusing to do your job and getting charged or I suppose you could abandon your child which will bring its own problems.
Click to expand...

Or you could consider all the above before becoming a single parent. Of course that wouldn't net you a six figure payout from the taxpayer...
 
This soldier had her employability limited by her child, if its right to sack her is it also right to sack a soldier who has lost employability through injury - or should the army rerole the soldier into a job that fits them better. Although the common image of the army is of deployed soldiers fighting in far flung places there will always be many more jobs to do back in the UK that a single parent or an injured soldier can do.

Not comparing being injured to being a single parent but the affect on the jobs you can do is similar.

Its not always a choice to become a single parent, I don't know her circumstances though.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom