Rape centre worker wins tribunal over gender-critical beliefs

Roz Adams has gone on to work for a support service funded by JK Rowling

A woman who worked at a rape crisis centre was constructively dismissed for believing that those using the service should be able to know the sex of staff, a tribunal has found.

It also found that Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre had unlawfully discriminated against Roz Adams, saying that management had conducted a “heresy hunt” against her.

The ruling said the decision to launch a disciplinary process against Ms Adams was because the centre's management wanted to make an example of her because of her gender critical beliefs.

Ms Adams said the ruling had made “three years of struggle worthwhile".

She told BBC News: "For me it was dystopian, it was the strangest experience. I’ve never come across any other topic where to ask to talk about it and ask to find solutions that work for everybody is seen as hateful."

Ms Adams said she thought there was a large number of people working in the sector who are "fearful" of talking about gender identity and the privacy of staff.

"People don’t want to go through what I’ve been through understandably so they won’t speak up," she said.

Rape Crisis Scotland, which sets service standards for member centres, has now commissioned an independent review into practices and procedures at the Edinburgh facility.

Sandy Brindley, chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland, said “We believe that it is important that survivors can make informed choices about the services they can access at rape crisis centres.

"We know it is important for some survivors to have a choice over the sex or gender of their worker.”

Sandy Brindley is chief executive of Rape Crisis Scotland

The tribunal heard that when Ms Adams joined Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre as a counselling and support worker around February 2021, she was supportive of trans people and "excited" by its trans inclusion policy.

In the months that followed, she began to feel there were issues around the way gender issues were dealt with by the organisation and described the atmosphere as "eggshelly".

The tribunal ruling noted that Ms Adams' view was that people using the centre should have a choice over who they receive support from on the basis of sex, and that sex is binary and "everyone is either male or female at that level".

It added: "Her belief was that whilst in most circumstances the distinction between biological sex and gender identity did not matter that in a service dealing with sexual violence the respondent should be honest and clear when asked to give a clear and unambiguous answer in order to provide that service users give informed consent."

Ms Adams said she became aware that people who wrote to the centre about the subject were "classed as bigots" and emails from them were kept in a folder called "hate emails".

Much of the tribunal centred on a disciplinary process that began after Ms Adams sought clarity on how to respond to an abuse survivor who wanted to know if a support worker who identified as non-binary was a man or a woman.

Some people who do not consider themselves to have a solely male or female gender identity describe themselves as non-binary.

The tribunal found that the support worker in question had changed their name to one that “sounded and appeared to be male”.

Management drafted a response clarifying that the centre did not employ men, but advised against divulging any further details due to staff privacy.

Ms Adams responded in June 2022 saying that the issue appeared to be a “minefield”.

The following month, she was invited to an investigation meeting regarding “potentially transphobic” views. A disciplinary process was later launched.

'Reminiscent of Kafka'

The tribunal found that the investigation should not have been launched and “was clearly motivated by a strong belief amongst the senior management and some of the claimant’s colleagues that the claimant’s views were inherently hateful".

Allegations of misconduct were upheld, but no action was taken. Ms Adams then chose to resign.

The judgment said that the centre's chief executive officer Mridul Wadhwa, who is a trans woman, appeared to believe that Ms Adams was transphobic.

It said that Ms Wadhwa was “the invisible hand behind everything that had taken place.”

It also said that it was “nonsense” to suggest any emails sent by Ms Adams were transphobic and it was “absolutely clear” that a staff member changing their name to one that sounded male was “going to cause difficulties.”

The judge said the disciplinary process used against Ms Adams was “reminiscent of the work of Franz Kafka” - the 20th Century writer whose works were often characterised by nightmarish and confusing situations.

The tribunal found that Ms Adams resigned as she “could have absolutely no confidence going forward that the respondents would comply with their obligation of trust and confidence towards her.”

Ms Adams has since gone on to work for Beira's Place - a women-only support service for victims of sexual violence, funded by JK Rowling.

Ms Rowling is on the board of directors along with former prison governor Rhona Hotchkiss, previous Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, GP Margaret McCartney, and director of For Women Scotland, Susan Smith.

All of the board members have been critical of the Scottish government's effort to reform the Gender Recognition Act.

Rowling posted a statement supporting Ms Adams on X, formerly Twitter, saying her priority had been survivors of rape and sexual assault.

She said: "Aside from being a highly qualified support worker, Roz is a person of bravery, integrity and compassion."

The board of directors of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre said they were saddened by the outcome of the tribunal.

A statement said: "We are fully supportive of Rape Crisis Scotland’s commissioning of an independent review of ERCC practice.

"This will help ensure our practices and procedures meet the highest standards as set out in the Rape Crisis National Service Standards, and that survivors receive the exceptional quality of support they deserve."

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said she could not comment on an individual employment tribunal decision, but welcomed the centre's reviews of its procedures.