'No excuse' | Royal Mail wrong to block worker's parental leave request, tribunal rules

A Royal Mail postal worker has won a tribunal claim after the company unlawfully stopped her from taking two weeks of unpaid parental leave, with a judge ruling that her statutory rights had been breached and awarding her compensation.

Mrs S Gwiazda brought the claim after Royal Mail failed to respond to her parental leave request within the legally required seven-day period, which meant it had no right to postpone or refuse the leave.

An earlier judgment confirmed that her complaint was well-founded and that the organisation had unreasonably prevented her from taking the two-week period she had notified of.

A remedy hearing has now set out the consequences of that breach, finding that the delay deprived her of a clear statutory right and that the company mishandled the request throughout internal processes.