£70,000 payout for woman at centre of rape centre's 'trans heresy hunt'

6 November 2024, 17:42

A rape crisis centre has been told to pay £70,000 to a former employee and to publicly apologise for its treatment of her, after she was forced her out of her job in a row over women-only spaces.

An employment tribunal ruled that Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre and its former CEO, a transwoman. were found to have conducted a 'heresy hunt' against counsellor Roz Adams after she raised concerns about the service no longer being single-sex.

Adams has now been awarded £68,990 redress for discrimination and constructive dismissal as well as compensation for emotional pain and suffering.

And in his remedy ruling, judge Ian McFatridge, also ordered the ERCC to publish an apology to Adams for alleging she was transphobic and that its disciplinary action against her was wrong.

It has also to now refer survivors of sexual assault to Beira's Place, which was established by the author JK Rowling as an alternative source of support. ERCC had previously refused to tell women that Beira's Place existed, despite the length of its own waiting list.

Today on X, Rowling tweeted about the outcome with clapping emojis, and on the mention of referring survivors to Beira's Place, said "at last".

In a statement today Adams said she was “grateful” for the ruling and added: “The financial compensation (which I’m relieved is covered by ERCC’s insurance) is welcome and will enable me as a first priority to take some time to rest. In time I plan to use some of it creatively for research-based dialogue using non-violent communication skills.

She also welcomed the prospect of a public apology, but said it was “more important” to see “meaningful change” at ERCC, as well as at Rape Crisis Scotland and the Scottish government.

“My priority remains that all victim-survivors of sexual violence can make a genuinely informed choice about the service they seek and have confidence in who will support them. To restore that confidence, I urge these organisations to give a clear definition of ‘woman’,” she said.

Rape Crisis Scotland has said that it is currently working on a definition.

Roz Adams also revealed ERCC had not attended the remedy hearing but that representatives of the centre had visited Beira’s Place, where she now works, and had a “productive meeting”.

“Whilst I do not underestimate the harms and hurt felt by many, or the enormity of the task ahead, I hope that this suggests some seedlings of change and the start of bridges being built. I urge everyone to put their focus on nurturing these seedlings, to allow people space and support to step back, rethink and repair.

“I am grateful to have been held by many inspiring and wonderful people in these challenging circumstances. Thank you to everyone who has supported me to get through this: my family, friends, colleagues and legal team, and to the strangers and ex-colleagues who reached out in unexpected ways. Every message has been a much-needed ray of light.”

In the original tribunal ruling Adams was found to have suffered harassment after standing up for a female victim of sexual assault who had sought assurances she would receive counselling from a woman.

The then CEO of ERCC, Mridul Wadhwa was identified as the “invisible hand” behind the counsellor’s persecution, which led her to leave her job.

The tribunal prompted the national body, Rape Crisis Scotland, to launch an independent review of ERCC. RCS's chief executive had previously supported Wadhwa in the role, despite being biologically male, when concerns were raised by some other women's organisations.

As a result of that report, which was severely critical of how ERCC operated, and its lack of single-sex spaces, calling it “a significant breach” of the national standards all rape crisis centres have to follow, Wadhwa was "sent home" and has since quit.

The whole row has led to demands that RCS chief executive Sandy Brindley should also stand down, and last month Glasgow's rape crisis service severed links with RCS citing conflicts over the inclusion of trans women in support services and said it intended to provide a single-sex service staffed by an “all-female workforce”.

Sandy Brindley has said she is likely to stand down from the job next year.

Today the board of the ERCC made the public apology the tribunal had asked for, saying it had "learned a lot" from the process of the employment tribunal with Roz Adams.

"Using this learning we are striving to improve the services we offer and the support we provide to service users, staff and volunteers.  

"We are committed to balancing the views, needs and wants of all our service users, staff and volunteers. It’s important that we do this in a thoughtful and respectful way, reflecting our values and in line with the national service standards set by Rape Crisis Scotland.  

"We recognise that during the employment tribunal with Roz Adams we did not act in the right way. We want to publicly apologise, and we understand that Roz’s actions were not motivated by transphobia, but by a genuine wish to act in the best interests of service users.

"We should have listened more to Roz’s concerns and never pursued disciplinary action and for that we are sorry."

The statement added that ERCC was already taking steps to address the outcomes of both the tribunal and recommendations in the independent review by Rape Crisis Scotland.  

"Our focus for the future is ensuring we can provide survivors with the best possible service and support they need to aid their recovery.  We are committed to ensuring that ERCC is a safe, accessible and inclusive service for all. We have information on our services, including our women only services, on our website.  We want to reassure all survivors who are currently accessing our services and anyone seeking support that we are here for you, and you matter to us."