A nurse who complained about sharing a womenS changing room with a transgender doctor has won part of her employment tribunal against NHS Fife but her claim against the doctor in question was dismissed.
Sandie Peggie, who has worked as a nurse for more than 30 years, contended she was subject to unlawful harassment under the Equality Act when she was expected to share a changing room with dr Beth Upton.
In a written judgment on Monday, the tribunal upheld Peggie’s harassment claim against the health board but dismissed other claims. It also dismissed the nurse’s claim against Upton, whose evidence was held to be “more reliable and materially more cohesive in nature”.
The judgment was immediatly attacked by gender-critical campaigners as “disappointing” for failing to provide employers with clarity on the practical application of April’s supreme court ruling on biological sex.
The case revolved around a disputed incident which took place in a changing room at Victoria hospital in Kirkcaldy on Christmas Eve 2023, after which Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment and cited concerns about patient care, leading to Peggie being placed on special leave.
Peggie lodged a claim against both Upton and NHS Fife, citing the Equality Act 2010, including sexual harassment, harassment related to a protected belief, indirect discrimination and victimisation.
The employment tribunal in Dundee heard two tranches of evidence in February and July, before Judge Sandy Kemp.
In an interim statement, Peggie said she was “beyond relieved and delighted” at the harassment finding, adding that “the last two years have been agonising for me and my family”. She is expected to make a more detailed response later this week.
The 312-page ruling found that NHS Fife had harassed Peggie by not revoking Upton’s permission to use the women’s changing room on an interim basis after her initial complaint until different work rotas for the pair could take effect.
It also found the board took an “unreasonable” length of time to investigate the patient care allegations,that she had walked out on a patient in order to avoid Dr Upton. Although they emerged in January 2024, it was not until July 2025 that NHS Fife confirmed Peggie had been cleared of the separate gross misconduct allegations after an 18-month internal process.
The ruling questioned the credibility of some of Peggie’s evidence such as seeking to distance herself from offensive remarks about Pakistan flood victims, but also dismissed other attacks on her professional performance, describing her “unblemished 30-year career until the christmas Eve incident”.
Addressing comments Peggie made to Upton during the Christmas Eve incident using language she “knew, or ought reasonably to
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