Name calling leads doctor discrimination claim to be thrown out

Wednesday 18 April 2018

A female islander who made a discrimination complaint against an A&E doctor for calling her ‘Mr’ has had her claim struck out by a Tribunal - after insulting a Law Officer and repeatedly calling her by the wrong name.

The Employment Tribunal came to their conclusion this week after viewing a heated email exchange in which Ms Erin Bisson continually referred to Assistant Legal Adviser Tara Macnair as Mrs McChair.

The saga began when Ms Bisson initiated a claim against the States Employment Board under the Discrimination Law in November last year, arguing that a doctor’s misgendering amounted to ‘less favourable treatment’.

However, according to Mrs Macnair, this only happened due to a technical fault with the computer system that meant the claimant was recorded as ‘Mr Bisson’.

The fault itself was linked with the Pathology Department, and Mrs Macnair therefore wished to call a witness to explain why Ms Bisson’s gender had been logged in this way. 

But Ms Bisson - who's acquired gender is female - repeatedly refused over fears that her medical data would be disclosed, despite reassurances that it would not. She was then said to have launched a “verbal attack” on the States Employment Board representatives, who it's claimed she accused of being “perverts.”

“The Chairman informed the Claimant in the strongest terms that the use of such language was not acceptable and that she was to treat Mrs Macnair and the Tribunal with respect,” the judgement noted.

Despite the warning, the animosity between the pair continued, leaking into email exchanges. According to Mrs Macnair, those included “unacceptable personal insults” – something denied by Ms Bisson. “The allegations are false regarding insults. I will not even sit in the same room as her,” she explained to the Tribunal via email.

Concerned at the escalating tensions, the Tribunal wrote to both parties – an action apparently taken “in order to avoid further inflaming the situation” – to order an immediate cease of “aggressive, unreasonable or vexatious” behaviour.

The issue, the Tribunal heard, primarily centred around how Ms Bisson repeated failed to correctly address the legal adviser correctly via email, leading her to respond:

“The correct spelling of my surname, as I have confirmed in previous correspondence, is MACNAIR. For ease, it is also at the bottom of each of my emails.”

Her use of caps lock sparked allegations of “shouting” from Ms Bisson, which were dismissed by Mrs Macnair as “fabrication” in a further message:

“As requested, please address me by my correct name, Mrs Macnair. I note that since requesting that you do so you have failed to do so once; instead either misspelling my name, calling me McChair or using my Christian name. All correspondence should be addressed to me correctly or it will not be read.

"With regards to the allegation that I shouted at you.  This is a lie.  I have not and would never shout at you.”

In response, Ms Bisson maintained that “an email containing block capitals is shouting” and that it was a matter of “internet Netiquette.”

She added that she felt it “prejudiced and wholly unfair” to be held to the same expectations as lawyers, as she felt “intellectually challenged” in comparison. “The last exams I saw were at GCSE and were 8 qualifications below C,” she reasoned.

In her conclusions, Tribunal Chairman Hilary Griffin stated that “no legal qualifications would have placed the claimant in any better position to understand what the Orders required.”

“She simply did not wish to comply with them and chose to continue with the behaviour which the Orders were seeking to prevent.  In so doing, she showed a blatant disregard for the Tribunal’s authority and procedures,” she explained.

The claim was subsequently thrown out on Monday.