Teen hairdresser wins £30k after boss “tells her to abort baby”

Jasmine Hewitt, an apprentice hairdresser, began working at Elite Hair Lounge Stockwell on October 5, 2023. Ms Hewitt was 19 years old at the time.

In September of the same year while still undergoing her apprenticeship at the salon, Ms Hewitt told her manager, Edna Houshyar, that she was pregnant. 

According to an employment tribunal, Ms Houshyar told Ms Hewitt that she was “too young to be pregnant”, and should have an abortion.

On January 16 of the following year, Ms Hewitt informed Ms Houshyar that she could not go into work as a result of suffering from migraines. Houshyar’s response was:

I don’t think with this situation that you have and all these days that you are asking for a day off, you can continue. I understand your situation. If you want to work, you have to be more responsible and try harder.”

Ms Hewitt said she had taken four days off from work only when she had received permission to do so. She also said she had been late for work on three occasions - once by twenty minutes, another by 5 minutes and lastly by two minutes. 

Ms Hewitt said as a result of this interaction, she did her best to get back into work “no matter what”.

Unfair dismissal

On January 18, just two days after attempting to inform her employer of her migraines and inability to work on that day, Ms Hewitt emailed Ms Houshyar asking what the situation would be in relation to her role and training during her maternity leave.

Just 24 minutes later, Ms Hewitt received an email from Ms Houshyar stating that “after careful consideration and evaluation”, it was determined that she had in fact not completed her apprenticeship as “milestones integral to the apprenticeship program were not met”.

Ms Hewitt ended up texting her other manager, Talisha Cox, telling her that it had become difficult to work at the salon ever since she informed Ms Houshyar of her pregnancy.

Ms Cox responded by telling Ms Howitt that the dismissal was due to ““factors such as you arriving to work late, having too many days off and not upholding the high level of customer standards expected from Elite staff”.

However, the college that Ms Hewitt was attending claimed that she had passed her three-month probation and had been doing well in her apprenticeship.

Ms Hewitt decided to raise a formal grievance against the salon for unfair dismissal — citing that being told to get an abortion was an “awful thing to say”.

Ms Hewitt successfully sued the salon for unfair dismissal, pregnancy discrimination and age discrimination. She was awarded £29,489.

The employment judge, Rachel Beckett, stated that Ms Hewitt “was young and at times appeared somewhat immature in her expectations. She was not aware of various procedures, such as putting details in writing.” Nevertheless, “there had been no verbal or written warnings, and [Ms Hewitt] was not aware of any issues relating to her performance.” Therefore, the tribunal “had no hesitation in concluding” that Ms Hewitt’s treatment by management at Elite Hair Lounge Stockwell was due to her young age, and on this basis found her “complaint to be well-founded on that ground”.