She was fired via a 'jazz hands emoji'— her legal clapback just cost her boss a cool $117,845

While women in desk jobs can comfortably continue to work during their pregnancy, the changes that the body experiences during this period often make the job challenging. Changes like untimely surges in the barrage of hormones, sagging and loosening skin, frequent nausea, mood swings, fluid retention, digestive issues, and brain fog make it laborious for full-time working moms to manage it all. Paula Miluska, a woman from Birmingham, UK, received a compensation of nearly £94,000 ($118,322) after being unfairly terminated by her boss when she requested him to allow her to work from home because she had “morning sickness.” The boss returned her request with a vague message containing “jazzy hands emoji,” as reported by The Independent.

Miluska joined the Birmingham-based Roman Property Group Limited in March 2022 as an investment consultant. After learning that she was pregnant in October 2022, she started noticing “the effects of her pregnancy in the form of morning sickness.” On most days, she had to leave work early due to “increased nausea.” So, she approached her line manager, Ammar Kabir, and requested that he allow her to work from home. She explained that her morning sickness was becoming “horrendous” and sent him a text message: “The midwife was saying that at the moment if I can work from home, it’ll be best as these next two weeks are usually the peak of pregnancy nausea due to hormones.”

But instead of acknowledging her struggle, Kabir replied with a vague “jazz hands emoji” along with the message, "I hope to see you soon. We've got a lot of catching up to do outside of work." His reason for terminating her was that the company was “struggling,” and they needed someone who could be in the office.

Gradually, the matter reached the court, where the judge determined that the woman’s pregnancy was an unjust reason for her termination. After investigating their phone conversations, the judge revealed that there had been no texts between them until November 26, when Kabir asked Miluska how she was feeling.

The consultant replied to her boss that she was feeling “horrendous” due to her morning sickness. The following day, Kabir messaged her, asking if she could work a few days the next week until 4 PM, as he was going on holiday. The pregnant woman politely told him that she couldn’t support him with this. “Oh gosh, I was about to message you about taking the week off. I was sick six times today, and if it doesn’t ease up within the next few days, I’m going to have to be admitted to hospital. I don’t think I’ll even be able to work from home, never mind the office,” she said, per the outlet.

Kabir didn’t respond to her message until December 1. That’s when he replied with the vague emoji message that read, “Hey, hope ur OK u [sic] probably guessed by now will need to try and find someone to be in the office as we’re falling behind on work I just want to say I hope you don’t take it personally or see us as bad, but we are really struggling.” The message left Miluska puzzled. She said to him, “I’m confused with what’s going on. I’ve been working remotely as agreed since I told you I was pregnant to the best I can while suffering from maternity-related sickness. I’ve secured another allocation despite feeling worse than ever during the peak of morning sickness, and now you’re firing me?”

When employment judge Garry Smart inquired into the matter, he proclaimed that it was “objectively clear” that Kabir’s message was “bringing the employment relationship to an end.” And even though Kabir denied all the claims of her unfair dismissal from the job, his argument was rejected by the judge. In the end, Miluska was compensated with £93,616.74 ($117,845).