An engineer’s dignity would have been “violated” if she had to wash menstrual blood off her hands in a female bathroom while a transgender colleague was present, an employment tribunal has heard.

Maria Kelly is taking action against aerospace firm Leonardo UK alleging harassment and direct and indirect discrimination at their office in Edinburgh in March 2023.

The firm’s vice-president of people shared services, Andrew Letton, gave evidence to the hearing.

He said he was not aware of that specific incident, but agreed it would have been “distressing” for Ms Kelly if it occurred.

Ms Kelly, people and capability lead at the company, told the tribunal on Wednesday she suffered from heavy periods and considered female-only toilets a place of refuge.

She said she had been walking out of the toilet in March 2023 when a transgender colleague had walked in, leaving her “taken aback”.

Asked about the incident, Mr Letton said he was not aware of the situation and could not comment.

Ms Kelly’s lawyer asked him whether he would accept it would be a violation of Ms Kelly’s dignity “if it had happened”.

Mr Letton said it would.

The tribunal also heard that Ms Kelly had a choice of either using the toilets nearest to her desk, walking through an atrium to toilets with more privacy or using the accessible toilet.

Mr Letton said he did not think this constituted a violation of her dignity because of the choice of facilities available.

Mr Letton did agree there were no “suitable” single occupancy toilets for Ms Kelly to use on the floor where she worked unless she used the accessible toilet, as other facilities were all shared.

The tribunal heard the ladies’ toilets were “rebadged” as a WC in January 2025 while no change was made to the men’s facilities.

Mr Letton said this was because the men’s toilets “still had urinals” in them.

He said he first became aware of a transgender person using a female bathroom at the office around the time of Ms Kelly’s complaint.

Mr Letton said the company had been “nothing but sympathetic” towards Ms Kelly’s grievance and described her as a “valuable employee”.

The tribunal in Edinburgh continues and further dates for submissions from each party are expected to be agreed in the coming weeks.