Worker at award-winning cheese company who was told having a baby would ‘jeopardise her career’ and was demoted after bosses learned of her pregnancy wins discrimination and unfair dismissal case

• Storm Botha, 34, had miscarriage after stressful ordeal at White Lake Cheese 
• Roger Longman told her to take lower role with less pay at ‘ambush meeting’

An office worker at an award-winning cheesemaker who was told by a manager that having a baby would ‘jeopardise her career’ won her case against bosses who demoted her after she announced she was pregnant.

Storm Botha was invited to an ‘ambush meeting’ where she was told to take a lower role at White Lake Cheese, in Somerset, with less pay after news about her pregnancy got out.

The expectant mother – who suffered panic attacks and struggled to sleep as she was concerned about her job security – later suffered a miscarriage following the stressful ordeal.

Her boss, Roger Longman, insisted he did not know the then 32-year-old was pregnant when he made the decision to demote her.

But an employment tribunal has upheld Miss Botha’s claims of pregnancy discrimination and unfair dismissal after she represented herself against an experienced barrister during a six-day hearing. She will now receive compensation.

Storm Botha, 34, has won her discrimination and unfair dismissal case against White Lake Cheese, in Somerset, after her boss demoted her after she got pregnant 

Roger Longman (pictured) is the CEO and owner of the cheese company. He insisted he did not know the then 32 year old was pregnant when he made the decision to demote her

The Bristol tribunal heard that the now 34 year old – a media communications graduate from Bath Spa University – started working at White Lake Cheese as a ‘cheese-making assistant’ in September 2020.

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The company sells an ‘extensive range’ of award-winning cheeses – including one for best goat’s cheese award for 2017 – which are all handmade in Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

The hearing was told that after two months at the company, Miss Botha started to occasionally work in the office doing marketing work and she was eventually told by her boss she could ‘stay in the office’.

Mr Longwood said her main job after she left cheese-making had been ‘Instagram and stuff like that’ but the tribunal heard due to staff shortages, she had taken on a number of other administrative roles at the company.

While at work in August 2021, Miss Botha shared with a manager that she and her partner were trying for a baby.

Her colleague replied: ‘I thought you were happy here, why would you jeopardise that by having a baby?’, the tribunal heard.

Around one month later, Miss Botha told office manager Sandra Hamilton that she was five weeks pregnant and she didn’t want this to be common knowledge among staff.

Just 90 minutes later, Ms Hamilton texted a colleague the private news, adding ‘Looking forward to seeing Roger’s face when I tell him next week!’.

At the time, Mr Longman was on holiday and Ms Hamilton insisted she did not tell the managing director the news.

The tribunal heard that when he returned to work the following month, he invited Miss Botha to a meeting and unusually for the expecting mother, did not tell her what it was about.

The expectant mother suffered panic attacks and struggled to sleep as she was concerned about her job security, and later suffered a miscarriage following the stressful ordeal

Employment Judge Martha Street ruled Miss Botha (pictured) was treated unfairly ‘on the grounds of pregnancy’ and that Mr Longman was aware of her pregnancy when he called the meeting. She will now receive compensation

The meeting opened with Mr Longman criticising her social media marketing work saying he was ‘not impressed by the posts’ and he complained the cheese was being sold too cheaply on the internet.

The managing director told Miss Botha she was moving to a different department – in wrapping and affinage – at a lower rate of pay.

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Wrapping and affinage – the process of caring for, ripening and aging cheese – is a job that involves ‘heavy lifting’ by requiring workers to turn cheeses that weigh between 1.5 kg and 2 kg.

The employment tribunal heard that no risk assessment was carried out to ensure this type of manual labour was safe for a pregnant woman.

As well as being demoted to a lower skilled job, Mr Longman told the pregnant woman her salary of £11.00 an hour would be reduced to an hourly rate of £9.50.

According to Miss Botha’s notes from the meeting, she said to her boss: ‘Roger, I’m pregnant, I can’t work in the Cheese Room.’

He allegedly replied immediately, saying: ‘I know, that’s why you will be working in wrapping. Oh, and congratulations.’

After the meeting, a distressed Miss Botha texted her partner saying how Mr Longwood was reducing her wage and how she ‘can’t leave or look for anywhere else to work because [she’s] pregnant’.

Later that evening, Miss Botha emailed her boss to raise a formal grievance and said she had been completely ‘caught off guard’ in an ‘intimidating and unfair manner’.

The email also said: ‘This is clear discrimination towards me as I am the only member of staff who is pregnant, being demoted to a different department and receiving a decrease in hourly pay

‘The effect of the ambush meeting has left me distressed and anxious, concerned about the security of my job.’

White Lake Cheese sells an ‘extensive range’ of award-winning cheeses which are all handmade in Shepton Mallet, Somerset

The following day, the expectant mother messaged her boss telling him she is unable to work as she had ‘wave after wave of panic attacks that kept [her] from being able to sleep’.

Miss Botha returned to work for a short while in affinage but no risk assessments had been carried out for her and due to stress, she was signed off sick for work.

Miss Botha – still signed off sick for work – sadly suffered a miscarriage in November 2021 and in December she was dismissed from the company.

Employment Judge Martha Street ruled she was treated unfairly ‘on the grounds of pregnancy’ and that Mr Longman was aware of her pregnancy when he called the meeting.

EJ Street said: ‘We are satisfied that Mr Longman knew of Ms Botha’s pregnancy before the meeting. [It] was not a relaxed, informal meeting presenting issues over the future of Storm’s role.

‘It was a meeting in which criticisms were made of her work and it led to the announcement of a decision already made to move her to a different, lower paid role, on a short-term basis.

‘Revisiting the history, we find a pregnancy-related decision to demote Miss Botha, followed by the decision to make that longer-term, prompted both by the pregnancy and the grievance, an unwelcome and angry challenge to Mr Longman’s decision-making.’

A remedy hearing to decide her compensation will take place at a later date.

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