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A 19-year-old hairdressing apprentice has been awarded almost £30,000 after an employment tribunal found that her manager told her she should “have an abortion” because she was “too young,” before she was dismissed shortly after asking about returning to work following maternity leave.
J Hewitt began working as a trainee salon stylist at Elite Hair Lounge in Stockwell, London, in October 2023. She told her line manager, Edna Houshyar, that she was pregnant that December after Houshyar saw her booking a private ultrasound appointment.
During the conversation, Houshyar asked whether the baby’s father was “around” and told the teenager she should “have an abortion as she was too young,” according to evidence accepted by the tribunal.
Hewitt became emotional and asked to go home, but her request was refused. The tribunal subsequently found that the abortion comment amounted to both pregnancy and age discrimination.
Her treatment at work also changed following the disclosure of her pregnancy.
Hewitt was wrongly marked late after attending a medical appointment, initially refused leave for an ultrasound, and faced scrutiny over pregnancy-related illness and appointments. Despite her job requiring prolonged periods of standing, the tribunal found that the salon did not discuss adjustments or conduct a risk assessment.
In January 2024, Hewitt was signed off work after suffering pregnancy-related migraines. Houshyar subsequently told her: “I don’t think with this situation that you have, and all these days that you are asking for a day off, you can continue.”
The case culminated on 18 January, when Hewitt messaged her manager asking what would happen to her job during maternity leave and whether she could resume her apprenticeship after giving birth.
Around 20 minutes later, she was informed that her apprenticeship had been terminated because unspecified “milestones” had not been met.
After Hewitt challenged the dismissal and raised the abortion remark, the salon cited lateness, absences, and poor customer service. However, the tribunal found no contemporaneous evidence of performance problems, no previous verbal or written warnings, and concluded that Hewitt had taken no unapproved days off.
In 2023 the advocacy group Pregnant Then Screwed carried out a survey which showed 1 in 61 women admitting to being pressured into an abortion by their employers.
Employment Judge Beckett and the tribunal panel considered the timing of the dismissal “important evidence” and concluded that Hewitt’s pregnancy was the “reason, or principal reason” she lost her job.
Hewitt was awarded £29,490, including compensation for automatic unfair dismissal and injury to feelings. Her claims relating to unfair dismissal, pregnancy discrimination, and aspects of age discrimination were upheld.
The case is a disturbing example of the pressure that can be placed upon young women when they become pregnant. Rather than being supported in continuing both her pregnancy and career, a teenage employee was told by her own manager that abortion was the best answer to her circumstances.
The tribunal’s judgment sends the opposite message: pregnancy should not cost a woman her employment, and being young does not make destroying a baby any more acceptable.
A staff member for SPUC was previously a customer at the salon and has said she will never go back.
SPUC’s Executive Director Michael Robinson has commented on the case, saying: “Our culture has normalised abortion to an extend that a hard-working teenager deciding to continue her pregnancy is frowned upon and seen as an inconvenience. Pregnant women deserve careful support in their transition from employment into early motherhood and we are glad the tribunal has recognised that. Hewitt’s baby is not an inconvenience and SPUC wishes her all the best in this new journey of motherhood and hope the payout will help her baby have the best start in life.”
