The parties reached an out-of-court settlement in September 2015, under which World Snooker Ltd paid Tabb an undisclosed financial sum.

[8] She made her professional refereeing debut at the St. Andrew's Cup nine-ball pool tournament in September 1997, while pregnant with her first son.

[16] On 23 January 2002, Tabb became the first woman to referee at a professional ranking snooker tournament when she took charge of a first-round match between Ken Doherty and James Wattana at the 2002 Welsh Open in Newport.

[1] In 2003, she made her World Snooker Championship debut at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, refereeing a first-round match between Mark King and Drew Henry.

[15] Tabb's contract, along with that of Dutch referee Johan Oomen, was terminated on a last-in, first-out basis, threatening her future in the sport.

[15] On 18 February 2007, Tabb became the first woman to officiate at a ranking event final, taking charge as Neil Robertson defeated Andrew Higginson 9–8 to win the 2007 Welsh Open.

[18] On 20 January 2008, she refereed her first Triple Crown final at the 2008 Masters, which saw Mark Selby defeat Stephen Lee 10–3.

[27] In September 2015, appearing under her married name of Michaela McInnes, Tabb brought an Employment Tribunal against World Snooker Ltd, claiming sexual discrimination, unfair dismissal and breach of contract.

[30] The professional snooker tour now features a significant number of female referees, including Desislava Bozhilova, Maike Kesseler, and Tatiana Woollaston.

Tabb has commented on her groundbreaking role in opening the sport up to female referees, saying: "I know that my legacy is that all these young ladies that I can see on the television are doing that job because I did it”.