A British woman who sued her former employer for not receiving a farewell card lost her case after it was revealed that a card had been arranged, but only three colleagues signed it. According to The Guardian, Karen Conaghan’s coworkers decided not to give her the card because they felt it would be more insulting to present one with so few signatures.
Conaghan argued that the lack of a farewell card amounted to a "failure to acknowledge her existence" at International Airlines Group (IAG), which she claimed was a breach of equality law. IAG, the parent company of British Airways, had laid off Conaghan in 2021.
A former colleague testified that a card was indeed purchased for Conaghan, who joined IAG in 2019, but it was ultimately not given to her due to the low number of signatures. Judge Kevin Palmer noted, "He believed it would have been more insulting to give her the card than not to give her a card at all."
During the employment tribunal, Conaghan, who was a business liaison lead, brought forward 40 allegations against the company, including claims of sexual harassment, victimization, and unfair dismissal. The court dismissed all her claims.
Judge Palmer concluded that Conaghan often exhibited a "conspiracy-theory mentality" and misinterpreted "normal workplace interactions" as harassment. For example, Conaghan alleged that a colleague copied her use of the word "whiz" but corrected the spelling to "whizz" in a card for another colleague. She also complained about a co-worker who jokingly asked, "Are you taking the piss, Karen?" after she claimed to have done "all the hard work."
The court also heard that Conaghan moved to Richmond, North Yorkshire, in September 2021, even though IAG required its employees to live within a two-hour commute of its Heathrow office.
The judge ruled that many of Conaghan's complaints "either did not happen or, if they did, they were innocuous interactions in the normal course of employment."
