Dental nurse who refused to cut nails feels sharp end of law

A dental nurse has lost a sex discrimination case against her employer after she refused to cut her nails.

Sandra Lougheed was asked to trim her nails to protect patients by her employer, Maxident, but said she would only allow a beautician to cut them. Her failure to comply with the request led to a shouting match at the surgery and she stormed out and then sued the practice for sex discrimination and constructive dismissal. However, Ms Lougheed lost her case when an employment tribunal ruled that she was required to cut her nails for health reasons, not because she was a woman.

The tribunal was told Ms Lougheed began working for the dental practice in Nunhead, south-east London, in April 2005. During the hearing in south London, the panel heard that male and female staff were banned from wearing jewellery below the elbow and were obliged to keep their nails short and unvarnished. During an infection check in July 2018, an inspector found a "number of matters of concern", including Ms Lougheed's fingernails being "too long for undertaking clinical duties". Staff were then reminded to keep them short by their manager, Dr Malek Mohsen.

Reportedly, the dental nurse promised she would cut them - but three months later they were again deemed too long. Dr Mohsen told the panel he again asked Ms Lougheed to cut her nails but she "refused and said she would only let a beautician cut them". Ms Lougheed allegedly insisted she be given the instruction in writing but "refused to accept" a letter from the practice's human resources department, and resigned in December 2018.  

Ms Lougheed claimed that Dr Mohsen told her to go home midway through a shift and slammed the door on her back, causing her to scream. She told the tribunal the "horrific" ordeal left her in tears and that she called the police, but Maxident was never contacted by the police. The tribunal was not convinced by Ms Lougheed's claim that she was bullied and backed Dr Mohsen concluding that her evidence was unreliable.

 "The reason she was treated in the manner that she was, that is being told to have a fingernails cut, was not due to her protected characteristic of sex but because of the infection control policy. "The tribunal...was not persuaded that a male dental nurse in similar circumstances would not have been treated in the same manner" the panel concluded.

PM Law 

Sheffield Solicitors