Trans worker awarded £12,500 over bullying at Royal Mail

A trans postal worker has been awarded £12,500 in damages after an employment tribunal found that she was bullied and harassed while working for Royal Mail in Cambridge.

Sophie Cole, 46, was born male but has been living as a trans woman since 2016. She said she loved her job but had experienced “transphobic” abuse from two colleagues.

Cole made a complaint about bullying to Royal Mail, saying she had suffered name calling, physical assaults and having her car spat on. She claimed the postal service did not take her grievances seriously and had tried to brush off her concerns.

Cole, who worked in the financial sector before joining Royal Mail, filed a complaint to the employment tribunal this year.

After a hearing in Bury St Edmunds, Judge Sarah King found Cole’s claim of harassment on the basis of her gender reassignment had been “successful in part”. She had also been successful on one ground of sexual harassment and direct discrimination on the grounds of sex.

The tribunal awarded Cole £12,500 in damages, including £2,000 for aggravated damages.

The employment judge ruled that Cole’s colleagues and managers should undertake grievance training and recommended she no longer have to work with one of her colleagues, Nick Cavanagh.

Cole, who represented herself at the tribunal, said she believed her victory was a “legal first” after the Supreme Court ruled in April that the definition of a woman in the Equality Act was based on biological sex.

The fact Cole was successful in relation to one part of her claim on the grounds of sex meant she was able to show that one alleged perpetrator “saw me as a woman”, Cole said after the ruling.

She had claimed one Royal Mail colleague would mimic her voice in a falsetto tone and that she was verbally abused by other staff.

After the verdict Cole said: “I know not everyone is pro trans and I am not looking for supporters. I am just trying to live my life and did not do anything to provoke any of this.

“But my life was made extremely difficult on a daily basis. It dragged out for a year and I was concerned for my life at times. I was physically assaulted and constantly abused and targeted. It made me really depressed.

“I was able to prove in court that I had not done anything and there was nothing I could have done differently.”

Cole said she was very grateful for the judge.

She said: “The final Supreme Court ruling said you could only be classed on a legal basis by your birth gender. On that basis I was told I could not have suffered harassment for my sex as a woman as the law doesn’t see me as one.

“However, after deliberation and going off to speak to other judges, she made it clear that if an individual ‘deemed’ me to be a woman when they harassed me, I could be listed as a ‘female victim’.”

Royal Mail said it took “all allegations of harassment and discrimination seriously” and “acknowledge the tribunal’s findings and are progressing the recommendations made as swiftly as possible”.

The Supreme Court ruling in April did not remove protections against harassment for trans women, who remain protected under the separate characteristic of “gender reassignment”.