Language | NHS worker raises misgendering claim after colleague's 'mush' & 'nut job' comments

Gendered language in the workplace has been put back in the spotlight after an NHS healthcare assistant claimed colleagues had misgendered her and referred to her using slurs such as “mush”, “nut job” and “nutter”.

A Southampton tribunal dismissed Miss L Webb’s claims of unfair dismissal, sex discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination and harassment, ruling that none of the comments she complained of were made because she was a woman or bisexual, and that the evidence did not support her account of events.

The tribunal found that Webb, who was dismissed in January 2023 after a series of conduct concerns, had not shown that comments made during internal investigations amounted to discriminatory treatment or harassment linked to her protected characteristics. 

It noted that neither the term “mush” nor the disputed remarks were used in the context she alleged, and that the Trust’s witnesses did not know her sexual orientation at the material time.