Married trainer who was known as ‘Miss’ as an alternative of ‘Mrs’ on letters addressed to her loses discrimination declare in opposition to faculty

A teacher failed to sue her school for marriage and age discrimination after she was referred to as ‘Miss’ instead of ‘Mrs’ on letters addressed to her.

Eniola Alabi told an employment tribunal she felt ‘embarrassed’ and ‘humiliated’ when her payslips failed to acknowledge her marital status.

She told the tribunal that ‘Miss’ was ‘less’ than ‘Mrs’ and so this was an act of discrimination from bosses at the South London secondary school where she worked.

Despite staff insisting the wrong label was used as part of an ‘administrative error’, the business studies and computer science teacher asserted it must have been done ‘deliberately’.

But Mrs Alabi claims were dismissed by an employment judge, who said the error was in ‘no way whatsoever’ on the grounds of her marriage.

The tribunal, held in Croydon, heard Mrs Alabi started working for Kingsdale Foundation School, Dulwich in September 2020.

For several months after she joined, payslips left in her pigeonhole were addressed to ‘Miss Alabi instead of Mrs Alabi’, the tribunal said.

Mrs Alabi said at first she thought it may have been a ‘mistake’ — until she realised the letter on the inside was addressed to her married title.

A married teacher has failed to sue her school for discrimination for referring to her as ‘Miss’ on payslips addressed to her (file photo)

The teacher told the tribunal: ‘At first, I was embarrassed and felt too humiliated to discuss it since it was being done deliberately.’

However, the school disputed the fact that this was done on purpose and instead told the tribunal it was an ‘administrative error’.

They said that because payslips show an employee’s details, a sticker is placed over their address to conceal the information.

In February 2022, Mrs Alabi — who represented herself during the proceedings — complained about ‘an incident’ in which a male teacher used the term ‘motherf*****’.

It was heard the teacher used it after Mrs Alabi reminded him that he was supposed to attend a meeting after work which he had forgotten about.

Mrs Alabi also complained about receiving negative feedback during a classroom observation in October 2022.

It was heard Mrs Alabi appeared ‘nervous’ and ‘did not demonstrate an appropriate way to deliver the curriculum’.

However, Mrs Albi said the reason she appeared this way was because of laptop issues.

Mrs Alabi resigned from her post at Kingsdale Foundation School in December 2022

Mrs Alabi later went on to say that the school was ‘controlling her computer remotely’ and ‘caused it to shut down in order to hinder her work’, which the school ‘vehemently denied’.

The teacher also accused another male staff member of calling her ‘Pretty Woman’ — which she said made her feel ‘uncomfortable’ as she knew this could be used to describe someone as a prostitute.

But the tribunal found the term was never used.

Mrs Alabi told the tribunal that during her tenure, she was subjected to an ‘extended period of discrimination and harassment’ which ‘cumulatively destroyed the relationship of trust and confidence’.

She said this left her with ‘no option but to resign’ in December 2022.

Mrs Alabi brought forward several claims to tribunal — including age discrimination, sex discrimination, and harassment.

Employment Judge Patricia Tueje said that in September 2020, ‘Miss’ rather than ‘Mrs’ was put on envelopes containing her payslips — but concluded the ‘reason for doing so was an administrative error’.

‘We consider it was not intended to or likely to destroy or seriously damage the implied term of trust and confidence between the parties,’ she added.

‘Accordingly, on a balance of probabilities, we conclude that printing envelopes with “Miss” rather than “Mrs” was an administrative error, and in no way whatsoever on the grounds of (Mrs Alabi’s) marriage and civil partnership.’

The judge said that during the tribunal, Mrs Alabi tried to argue the use of ‘Miss’ was ‘less favourable treatment’.

‘(Mrs Alabi) maintained that “Miss” was a term that was less than ‘Mrs’, so the (school) using the former title was less favourable treatment,’ she said.

‘The Tribunal does not accept this premise and does not consider that referring to someone as “Miss” instead of “Mrs” is less favourable treatment.’

All of her claims were dismissed.