Woman denies she would 'leak' trans colleagues' names

Maria Kelly is taking legal action against Leonardo UK

An engineer has denied she was ready to name transgender colleagues while seeking publicity for her legal case against her employer, a tribunal has heard.

Maria Kelly is taking action against aerospace company Leonardo UK, which has an office in Edinburgh.

The employment tribunal had earlier heard that she began using a "secret toilet" at her workplace after encountering a transgender colleague in the female bathrooms in March 2023.

On Thursday, Ms Kelly described a suggestion she would "leak" her colleagues' identities to help her case as "shocking".

Ms Kelly has lodged a complaint alleging harassment as well as direct and indirect discrimination.

As the tribunal continued on Thursday, she was cross-examined by Susanne Tanner KC, representing Leonardo UK.

Ms Tanner asked why Ms Kelly had not mentioned the March 2023 incident when she lodged a grievance with the company.

Ms Kelly said she wanted to understand the company's policy on access to toilets, telling the tribunal: "I knew that I had shared a toilet with a male.

"I didn't mention any names because it wasn't about an individual."

Ms Tanner said mentioning a name was different from mentioning an incident, adding that at no point in the appeal did Ms Kelly mention any incident with a transgender colleague.

Ms Kelly, who has worked at Leonardo UK for more than 18 years, said she accepted it was not included in the minutes of her grievance meetings.

The KC also said Ms Kelly's grievance had not been upheld, but the company had agreed to make amendments to its toilet facilities in the wake of her complaints.

'Pretty shocking'

The tribunal also heard about an exchange of letters between Ms Kelly's lawyers and the company's general counsel, as she sought to progress her concerns about access to the toilet facilities.

Ms Tanner said one of Ms Kelly's legal letters referred to the possibility of crowdfunding her legal action and seeking publicity, which might lead to transgender people becoming "part of the story".

The KC asked her if she accepted there was concern about this happening.

Ms Kelly said: "I understand there was a concern about the identities becoming part of the story."

She said there was "no suggestion" there were any names coming from her.

Ms Kelly later added: "To suggest that I would leak names is pretty shocking."

Company's policy

The tribunal also heard evidence from Leonardo UK's vice-president of people shared services, Andrew Letton.

He described the nature of the defence company's policies on diversity, saying: "We have got an inclusive culture in the business. We've invested heavily in creating this environment."

Ms Tanner asked Mr Letton what the company policy regarding use of the accessible toilets was before October 2024.

He said: "The practice in the company was that employees would use the facilities according to the gender that they identified with."

She asked if that was the company's general policy on toilet use.

Mr Letton replied: "We didn't actually have a written policy, it was basically something that was practised."

He also said he believed all Leonardo UK sites now had at least one single occupancy toilet in addition to accessible toilets, and that toilet facilities were being looked at as part of refurbishment plans under way across company sites.

He added: "We do recognise that this is something that needs to come further up the priority list."

The tribunal, taking place before employment Judge Sutherland, continues.