Mum files for discrimination
BP named in Federal Court case
CUDDLING her healthy seven-month-old daughter Luna, Kirsty Rother says she is glad she took steps to protect her from harm while she was pregnant last year.
Ms Rother, 23, claims she was discriminated against while working at a BP service station after she asked to not to do the fumy job of petrol dipping when she became pregnant.
Lawyer Susan Moriarty has filed a claim against BP in the Federal Court, alleging discrimination on the basis of Ms Rother’s sex and pregnancy.
Ms Rother says after she complained about having to continue to do the petrol dipping, her manager took steps amounting to retaliation.
Ms Rother, then a law student, had been working parttime at BP Highfields, in Toowoomba, for about three months before she found out she was pregnant with her third child last year.
Part of her job involved daily “petrol dipping’’ - measuring petrol in the ground - which exposed her to inhaling fumes.
When her doctor told her it was not good for her unborn baby, Ms Rother, then within the first three months of her pregnancy, raised it with her manager.
According to court documents, she also told her manager of BP safety data sheets that also warned about the dangers of pregnant women breathing fumes.
Ms Rother claims her manager told her other pregnant women who had worked there had not had a problem petrol dipping.
Other staff offered to do the petrol dipping for her but the manager did not agree to that, according to Ms Rother’s statement of claim.
“She said if I couldn’t do the jobs everyone else could and was on work restrictions I shouldn’t really be working at all because it made things difficult for her,’’ Ms Rother claims.
Ms Rother said after her father called a regional manager, she was told she would not have to do the dips. But she was then told she was to be singled out for performance management
‘‘ SHE SAID IF I COULDN’T DO THE JOBS EVERYONE ELSE COULD AND WAS ON WORK RESTRICTIONS I SHOULDN’T REALLY BE WORKING AT ALL
KIRSTY ROTHER
over a failure to do food temperature checks, for which she was not trained.
She claims she then had her shifts reduced and on her return from stress leave, other staff shunned her.
A BP spokesman said the company could not comment on the case, but it took such issues very seriously.
“Safety is our first priority and BP is committed to providing staff with a supportive and safe work environment,’’ the spokesman said.
“Our people are always able to discuss their individual circumstances and, where appropriate, we will put in place modifications to support them.”