Cleaning lady fired because she was sick too often – employer has to pay

The cleaner had suffered from mental health problems for years: anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, depression – and that wasn’t enough. Since September 2018, she has worked at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, a hospital in Lancaster, England.

From 2019 to 2023 she was on sick leave for longer periods of time several times. In 85 percent of cases due to their psychological problems. In total she missed 406 days. As can be seen from the indictment, she had spoken to her employer and asked to be allowed to reduce her working hours. However, to do this she would have had to change the area of ​​work. Because her anxiety would have made it more stressful for her to work in another area of ​​the hospital – where she knew neither the procedures nor the colleagues – she reluctantly decided to maintain her working hours.

Although several occupational health reports from 2019 and 2020 confirmed that the woman had “complex mental health problems” and a disability within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010, which legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace, she was terminated on June 27, 2023. Because the hospital had received another occupational health report on January 12, 2021, in which, according to the prosecution, it was “strangely” determined that the woman did not have a disability within the meaning of the “Equality Act 2010”. It is not clear from the indictment who this report came from or who commissioned it.

However, the court ruled that the employer had based its decision to dismiss only on this one report and ignored the other medical evidence of disability. He therefore “failed to take the plaintiff’s special needs into account and to find a solution that would both protect her health and enable continued employment.” The woman’s employer must pay £49,147 in compensation.