By Steven Brocklehurst, BBC Scotland
A nurse who objected to sharing a female changing room with a transgender colleague has won part of her employment claim against NHS Fife, but other allegations were dismissed.
Sandie Peggie, an A&E nurse with 30 years’ service, was suspended after complaining about Dr Beth Upton — a biological male who identifies as a woman — using a women’s changing room at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. Ms Peggie brought claims under the Equality Act 2010, saying the health board and Dr Upton had discriminated against and harassed her.
In a written employment tribunal judgment, the panel found NHS Fife had harassed Ms Peggie in four specific ways but rejected her wider claims of discrimination and victimisation and dismissed all allegations against Dr Upton.
The tribunal said NHS Fife should have taken interim steps when Ms Peggie complained, including temporarily revoking Dr Upton’s permission to use the female changing room until rota changes meant they would not be working together. It ruled the board took an unreasonable time to investigate allegations made against Ms Peggie, that staff were wrong to instruct her not to discuss the case, and that the board’s reference to unproven claims she had put patients at risk amounted to harassment.
The tribunal will hold a later hearing to decide remedy, which could include compensation.
Ms Peggie said she was “beyond relieved and delighted” by the finding, describing the past two years as “agonising” for her and her family. Her legal team said they had only received the lengthy judgment that morning and would review it; they added some aspects of the judgment were, in their preliminary view, “hugely problematic.”
NHS Fife said the tribunal unanimously dismissed all allegations against Dr Upton and all of Ms Peggie’s claims except for the four harassment findings. The board said it would study the judgment with legal advisers to understand its implications for the organisation.
Scotland’s first minister John Swinney described the ruling as important and said the government would consider the wider issues raised. He added that people are free to raise employment concerns within the law.
Responses from campaigners were mixed. Sex Matters, which supported Ms Peggie, criticised the tribunal for not providing clearer guidance for employers on single-sex spaces, arguing that employers should be able to refuse access to trans women. Maya Forstater, the organisation’s CEO, said the judgment should have given employers the confidence to protect single-sex facilities.
By contrast, discrimination lawyer Robin Moira White, who works with the trans-led group Translucent, called the ruling “a very sensible, balanced judgement.” She noted the tribunal found Ms Peggie had harassed Dr Upton rather than the reverse, and said the decision recognised the rights of both trans people and gender-critical staff, requiring employers to balance and accommodate both.
Commentary on the case highlights its wider political context. The dispute has become a tangible example of the debate in Scotland over gender identity and access to single-sex spaces. During the tribunal, the UK Supreme Court issued a ruling that defined “sex” in equality law as biological sex, but the tribunal in this case said that ruling did not make it inherently lawful or unlawful for a trans woman to be permitted to use a female changing room at work.
Analysis suggests Ms Peggie’s victory is narrow and procedural—focused on how NHS Fife handled her complaint—rather than a substantive legal endorsement of her position on access to single-sex facilities. The judgment leaves open questions for employers and policymakers and, according to some, has muddied rather than clarified the legal position on workplace changing rooms and toilets.
