Month: April 2020

“Rachel overcomes chronic illness issues and fights to keep her job”.

Situation:            
A woman employee is discriminated against for her abdominal chronic pain and mental health in Birmingham

Type of law:       
Employment – Disability Discrimination

 

About Rachel

Rachel approached us in 2022 as a female employee of a large pharmaceutical distribution company.  She is 26 years old.

Her job was to oversee and manage the smooth distribution of cosmetics and medical beauty products for the fulfilment of online customer orders. The foreign-owned distribution warehouse had state-of-the-art mechanisation and processes were highly automated. Rachel’s job was Production Supervisor and her role was to ensure that products left the warehouse on time and that any delays were resolved quickly. Rachel loved her job and she was known as the ‘queen bee’ at the warehouse, everyone liked her and listened to her. She was a key employee who had been noticed for her people skills and had been fast-tracked into a responsible position.

Rachel’s illness

Unfortunately for Rachel, over the past 36 months she has developed an acute form of Endometriosis, which has also led to IBS, infertility and mental health problems.

Endometriosis is a chronic condition which affects women, resulting from cellular endometrium growing in the abdomen and reproductive organs.  It is like Japanese Knotweed, appearing in places without explanation causing significant damage and pain. It has no means of stopping, repeatedly reoccurring regardless of any treatment.  It is a terribly debilitating pain.

The medical condition affects Rachel in several ways. The most significant is that she is unable to get out of bed on some mornings due to her acute pain and depression. She is a committed employee and really wants to get in to work, but her condition means that she can’t function as she had before. Some days are fine, other days are awful.

Rachel tells her employer about her health issues

Rachel explained her health condition to the HR Manager at work and although the HR Manager was sympathetic, Rachel could tell that the news had not been well-received. Rachel was an important key-worker employee with a strategic role and having a few days off each month in a random way was not going to be helpful at all.

Over the following months, Rachel was in a poor way and it was affecting her job. She spoke to the HR Manager again and asked if there was a way that she could adapt her job in a way that could help her situation, Rachel asked if she could change her working hours and be allowed dispensation not to trigger the absence policy the employer held if she was unwell due to either of her conditions (endometriosis, IBS and mental health) but the HR Manager was clear, they needed someone 5 days a week on the set hours she worked. The factory which Rachel worked operated 24 hours a day, with many different shift patterns available. Rachel was aware that other employees, those that were friends with the HR Manager had been allowed to change their shifts for non-disability or heath related reasons.

The HR Manager, who was male, had been initially sympathetic, but there was an unspoken inference that Rachel was probably exaggerating her symptoms and could easily cope with her job and was perhaps trying to have a few days off each month.

Time off work affects her job

The company’s sympathy turned dismissive as Rachel continued to fail to perform in her role and kept taking time off. Eventually the company made the decision to take Rachel off the line and gave her job to one of her colleagues, a male who had been chosen as her replacement and considered less likely to have gynecological problems due to his sex, therefore would fit their needs.

This news was shattering for Rachel, not only was she unable to perform the job she loved and was in constant abdominal pain, she had been moved sideways to allow someone else to take her job and her career had been cut short. She had been given less responsibility and was treated like a second-class employee by a predominantly male executive with no hopes of further recognition or attainment.

What could Rachel do?

Rachel heard about Lawson West’s area of specialisation in women’s health conditions in the workplace and she met our lawyers at our Leicester office. We immediately understood Rachel’s condition and symptoms and acted by contacting the HR Manager, and, with the evidence provided by Rachel, we were able to show the company how they had not complied with current employment law legislation.

There were several avenues the company could have taken to support Rachel in her health condition, and by ignoring these and eventually moving her sideways, they had not complied with the law or their obligations as employers. In fact, there were several actions the employer had got wrong surrounding this case of discrimination.

How her lawyer helped her

As Rachel had such a good case against her former employer, our lawyers at Lawson West knew we could take her case all the way to the Employment Tribunal for Disability Discrimination and Rachel’s employer could face legal fees and court costs of in excess of £20,000 if they lost the case.

However, Rachel didn’t have lots of cash to fight her claim through the courts.  Luckily, Rachel’s household content insurance policy had been underwritten with Legal Expenses Insurance and this meant that Rachel could progress her claim through the courts.  This meant that following commencing litigation and the costs of the trial would be borne by the insurance company even if her case failed.

The case progressed to court and was heard by an Employment Tribunal in January 2020. Rachel was successful in her claim and was awarded compensation.    

Her life now

Rachel kept her original job and her employer was forced to make the necessary preparations to ensure that there was adequate cover in her department for when she was taken poorly.

Rachel returned to work and continues in the job she loves.

If you are facing difficulties at work and need supportive advice, then please contact our experienced team at Lawson West Solicitors, we’re here to help.

Tel:  0116 212 1000   Contact Us 

 

This case study is provided as example only and is based on the types of employment law case managed by Lawson West. All names and situation details have been changed to protect the individuals and the employers. Please note that this is a basic overview only and should not be construed or relied upon as advice. Lawson West Solicitors Limited accepts no duty of care to any third party in connection with this case study. You are encouraged to seek legal advice for your own set of circumstances and actions may differ from those illustrated.

“Gideon Overcomes Hedge Fund Stress and being Unfairly Dismissed”

Situation:    
Hedge Fund Manager, working in The City for a large global Hedge Fund management firm in London, he faces unfair dismissal and stress in the workplace

Type of law:
Employment – Unfair Dismissal

Lawyer:
Ashley Hunt, Director at Lawson West Solicitors

About Gideon

Gideon is 28 years old and lives in Uppingham with his young family. He commutes to his job on the mainline train into St Pancras station. He’s worked in The City throughout his early career in finance. He goes on to work for a well-known global hedge fund management company and has responsibility for the management of several funds.

Stress at work

Recently Gideon’s team had been downsized, resulting in more work and more pressure being placed upon him. He now takes on the day-to-day activities of not only his own portfolios, but also those of the people who have left. The downsizing wasn’t discussed with anyone in the team, and to increase the workload on him even further, the management firm recently acquired new clients through the takeover of a smaller US-based fund management company, some of whom have very diverse portfolios and demanding needs.  The increased pressure and demand was all getting a bit too much for Gideon to cope with as one of the difficulties was his newly-acquired US clients only operate after 2pm UK time which meant a lot of his communication had to be done late afternoon and into the evenings, to coincide with US-time zones.

Gideon was working all hours, getting up at 5.30am to get the 6.30am commuter train into London, working through his lunch and working late into the evenings. He never saw his family anymore and at weekends he was too tired to do anything but sleep. His health was suffering, his sleep was disturbed, and he felt anxious, acting out of character, being short-tempered as he was always thinking about meeting core deadlines and performance ratios. His work life balance had dissolved.

Stress builds for Gideon

The firm had put so much pressure on him to ensure high fund performances across the portfolio that he was very stressed and scared of appearing weak at work if he mentioned this to his employers. Gideon knew that people had been axed from his team, so to make fuss could point the finger at him being next for redundancy! He kept quiet for several months, but in the end, he cracked under the burden of work and demands placed on him.

His ‘burn-out’ meant that he virtually collapsed mentally and couldn’t cope with even minor tasks. His speech was affected, he could not eat, sleep or socialize at all.  He had lost all his confidence in himself. The anxiety and stress of work had taken so much out of him that he was a shadow of his former self and the colleagues around him were quick to ignore his plight.  The signs were obvious, he was not acting himself at all, but no one took any notice.

After finally acknowledging to himself that he was not himself and arranging to see his GP, he was signed off for 3 weeks for Stress at Work.  Upon telling his work he had been certified unfit for 3 weeks his HR Manager rang him to discuss his condition. They took very little notice of the reasons behind his illness, and instead turned the situation on him, saying that it was his own illness which had contributed to him performing badly at work, and not their incompetence of managing workflows or people effectively.  They blamed being disorganized and that ‘he had taken his eye off the ball’ they were not sympathetic to his situation whatsoever despite him making it abundantly clear what the causes of his stress, anxiety and depression were and how he could not continue working at the same pace.

His employment is terminated

During his 3 weeks off, his employer placed Rupert, a colleague into his role (a career-hungry fund manager) and made it clear that he had been doing an amazing job in Gideon’s absence, and that his job would soon be advertised on the internal noticeboard if he wasn’t coming back to the office at the end of his 3 week period of convalescence. The threat of losing his job angered Gideon and the whole situation seemed very unfair to him. In his mind, his situation and associated stress problems were all the employer’s making and that they simply weren’t holding themselves accountable. All the employer was interested was getting the job done.  They had no time to spare a thought about the impact of their drive was having on Gideon.  They did not consider they had any duty to look after Gideon.  In fact, they were angry at Gideon for not being at work.

Gideon did not return to work where his employer wrote to him to advise that his role was no longer available, serving him with his statutory notice period as his employment had been terminated.

How his lawyer helped him

Gideon’s wife had heard about Lawson West’s employment law team from a friend and recommended he contact us.

We immediately went into action, listening to Gideon about his employer’s inability to manage his stress in the workplace and that they were in fact contributory to it and then unilaterally dismissing him.  It was clear to our team that Gideon had not been treated fairly.  His employer had failed to follow any of the guidelines of the ACAS Code, or the fairness defined in Employment Law when unfairly dismissing him.  Gideon’s employer also had not considered the possibility that Gideon may suffer from a Disability and that the dismissal could have been an act of discrimination.

Lawson West supported Gideon under a No Win No Fee Agreement to fight his case.  The case threatened to go all the way to the Employment Tribunal, but, because of the strength of evidence against the employer, and Gideon’s ability to demonstrate that there had been no justifiable reason for his dismissal and that any performance related difficulties the employer tried to suggest could be refuted as this was only because of their failures of care towards him, they managed to reach an agreement.

His life now 

Gideon now works for a niche fund management company in Aldgate and enjoys working alongside his new colleagues who all embrace relaxing with a glass of wine or two on a Friday evening in their favourite City wine bar – a far cry from the Friday nights of working intense hours he had experienced before.

According to the UK’s Health & Safety Executive, stress was the cause of 17.1million lost work days in 2022-2023 (most recent statistics). 

If you are facing difficulties at work and need supportive advice, please contact me, Ashley Hunt, Employment Law Director at Lawson West Solicitors, I’m here to help.

Ashley Hunt
ahunt@lawson-west.co.uk
Tel:  01858 445483

Useful links to related pages:

Stress At Work

Unfair Dismissal

This case study is provided as example only and is based on the types of employment law case managed by Lawson West. All names and situation details have been changed to protect the individuals and the employers. Please note that this is a basic overview only and should not be construed or relied upon as advice. Lawson West Solicitors Limited accepts no duty of care to any third party in connection with this case study. You are encouraged to seek legal advice for your own set of circumstances and actions may differ from those illustrated.

In a report conducted by BBC Panorama it was revealed that the Government Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has lost more Employment Tribunals for disability discrimination claims than any other company in Britain since 2016.

Out of the 80,000 members of staff employed by the DWP, 11,000 identify as disabled, this equates to 13.75% of the workforce. DWP is the Government department responsible for supporting people with disabilities into employment.

BBC Panorama’s findings

Between 2016 and 2019 the DWP received 134 disability discrimination claims against them and of those, they lost 17 of the cases. Not only did they receive more cases than any other employer, but they also lost more cases than any other employer too. Combined, the DWP paid out £950,000 in tribunal payments and out of court settlements during this period.

Discrimination arising from disability

Disability discrimination is where someone is treated ‘unfavourably’ because of something linked to their disability, but not because of the disability itself. The disabled person claiming this type of discrimination does not have to compare their treatment to how someone else is treated.

Example 1 of disability discrimination by the DWP

The first example is that of a worker who suffered from severe panic attacks and anxiety order that could trigger life threatening asthma attacks. He was moved department which in turn changed his job role and given his anxiety disorder meant he became unable to manage his condition. Despite advice and guidance from his own GP and the employer’s own Occupational Health service challenging this decision, nothing was done. The situation came to a head when his employer threatened him with disciplinary action for not being able to attend the necessary training for his new role.

He was awarded £26,000 after he took the DWP to an employment tribunal and a judge ruled he had been discriminated against because of his disability.

Example 2 of disability discrimination by the DWP

The second example is that of a worker who suffered numerous serious health conditions including depression. She was sacked by the DWP for taking too much sick leave.

At her employment tribunal, the judge found she had been unfairly dismissed and discriminated against by the DWP and is currently one the biggest pay-outs made by the DWP for disability discrimination.

In response to this report a spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We are shocked that, when presented in this way, the data shows us in this light.”

 

Disability Discrimination claims can have a detrimental impact on employers and employees alike. Should you require further information about anything covered in this article, get in touch. Vaishali Thakerar on 0116 212 1059 or email vthakerar@lawson-west.co.uk.