A former employee of ISG Construction has been awarded over £27,000 after succeeding in her constructive unfair dismissal and sex discrimination case against the contractor.
Employment Judge Andrew Midgley ruled that the claimant, identified only as Ms S Murphy in the judgment, was constructively unfairly dismissed and discriminated against because of her sex under section 26 of the Equality Act 2010.
Constructive dismissal happens when an employee is forced to leave a job against their will because of the employer’s conduct, such as a serious incident or the creation of a hostile environment.
Section 26 of the Equality Act refers to harassment as unwanted conduct relating to a protected characteristic, such as sex, race or disability, with the purpose of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the complainant or of violating their dignity.
The judge ordered ISG Construction Ltd, which is currently under administration and did not send a representative to the online hearing, to pay Murphy a basic award of £5,250 plus £5,600 in loss of earnings and £289 in pensions contributions as a result of the constructive unfair dismissal claim.
He also ordered the contractor to pay Murphy £16,000 in compensation for injury to feelings as a result of the sex discrimination.
ISG collapsed in September 2024, leaving around 2,200 staff unemployed and owing the supply chain hundreds of millions of pounds.
ISG’s administrator, EY, declined to comment.
