The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and Others

Case Summary

Ms L O'Hara, an experienced zoologist with ADHD, claimed various forms of discrimination, whistleblowing detriment, and harassment during her nine-month employment at Edinburgh Zoo. The tribunal found that all of her complaints were unsuccessful on the merits and dismissed them, having heard 12 days of evidence including testimony from the claimant and multiple respondent witnesses.

The tribunal found that none of the claimant's allegations were established on the evidence. The respondent's actions, including the extension of probation, management decisions relating to training in capuchin identification, and communications with colleagues, were found to be reasonable management decisions or not detrimental acts in law. The alleged protected disclosures were not found to be qualifying disclosures, and the alleged discriminatory treatment was not substantiated.

Use these claim-type pages to compare this decision with other published tribunal cases, outcome patterns, and visible award data.

• •Detriment on the ground of protected disclosures under section 47B ERA
• •Automatically unfair dismissal on grounds of protected disclosures under section 103A ERA
• •Direct disability discrimination under section 13 EqA
• •Discrimination arising from disability under section 15 EqA
• •Indirect disability discrimination under section 19 EqA
• •Failure to make reasonable adjustments under sections 20 and 21 EqA
• •Harassment under section 26 EqA
• •Victimisation under section 27 EqA

EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS (SCOTLAND) Case No:8001011/2025 Held inEdinburghon25–28 November; 1–3 December 2025; and 2–6 February 2026 Employment JudgeCampbell Ms L O’HaraClaimant In Person The Royal Zoological Society of ScotlandFirstRespondent Represented by: Ms M Maclean- Solicitor C Gibson Second Respondent c/o The Royal Zoological Society of ScotlandRepresented by: Ms M Maclean- Solicitor D Mason Third Respondent c/o The Royal Zoological Society of ScotlandRepresented by: Ms M Maclean- Solicitor K Valles Fourth Respondent c/o The Royal Zoological Society of ScotlandRepresented by: Ms M Maclean- Solicitor JUDGMENT OF THE EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL Each of the claimant’s complaints is unsuccessful on its merits and is dismissed. REASONS Introduction 1.This was a claim made by a former employee of the company which operates the Edinburgh Zoo. The claimant is an experienced zoologist who worked for 8001011/2025Page2 the respondent for around nine months, but who resigned after her probation period was extended a second time. 2.The hearing took place over 12 days in person in Edinburgh. The claimant represented herself and gave evidence. She called her sister, Louise O’Hara Bathgate as a witness. Ms Maclean represented the respondents. She called the following as witnesses: a.Ms Kenna Valles, Zookeeper and the fourth respondent, b.Ms Roslin Talbot, Senior Zookeeper, c.Ms Deborah Mason, People and Culture Manager and the third respondent, d.Mr Callum Gibson, Animal Team Leader and the second respondent, e.Mr Donald Gow, Operations Manager. 3.Although the claimant named three individuals as additional respondents she did not clarify at any point which complaints were pursued against them as opposed to, or in addition to, those alleged against the first respondent. It was taken that any allegation against one of them was a complaint against both the individual and thefirstrespondent. As none of the complaints were ultimately upheld it was not ne…