Tribunal rules that Ryanair discriminated against staff member with brain tumour 5 November 2019
An Employment Tribunal (ET) has unanimously ruled that Ryanair discriminated against one of its employees who had a disability, which led to constructive dismissal.
Ms M Dworak worked for the airline between 2004 and 2018 but, when diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2017, she suffered discrimination on the grounds of her disability. The ET heard that the company failed to comply with the employee’s numerous requests for work that did not require her to fly, and that included ground-based tasks only. This was even after her doctor provided her with a statement of fitness for work with the recommendation of amended duties and adjusted hours. During several exchanges between Dworak and Ryanair’s HR department, she was told that there was no suitable work available for her, and that she should check the company’s website to look for any potential suitable vacancies. The Judge observed that this was not the action of making reasonable adjustments to account for Dworak’s disability. For her to have to apply for a job through the standard recruitment process did not reflect her position as a current, disabled member of staff but put her in the same running as an external, non-disabled candidate. In 2018, Dworak lodged a grievance but her complaints were ignored. She was advised of jobs she could apply for, but they were not suitable due to location or because of the duties that were involved, which she could not undertake due to her disability.
Dworak eventually resigned and found employment with a different company. The ET ruled that this was constructive dismissal and that the employee had been discriminated against.
The Tribunal serves as an important reminder to employers to be prepared to make reasonable adjustments for disabled staff and what the consequences of not doing so are. If there is no suitable alternative work available, then businesses need to provide evidence as to why, instead of just refusing to provide work. If there is a role that would be suitable, this should be presented to the staff member without the requirement to apply for it.
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NHS worker overpaid by £21,000 will not pay money back 5 November 2019
The BBC has reported how health worker, Lauren O’Keefe, who was overpaid £21,000 due to an administrative error, will not have to repay the money.
O’Keefe, a 25-year-old from Wales, was a zero hours worker who also received a fixed salary payment in addition to money for the hours she worked. The total figure equates to £21,524 that was paid to her in error over an 18-month period. She claims that she initially thought the additional payments related to tax refunds but admitted that she did eventually realise that the money was being incorrectly paid to her account. She spent the additional funds despite this knowledge and paid for a beauty course and day to day expenses. O’Keefe was dismissed following an investigation into the overpayments by the counter-fraud service. She was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months on the count of fraud and ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work, but she will not have to repay any of the money back. This case is particularly poignant as the money overpaid should have been spent on other NHS resource and services. It is case that demonstrates that payroll departments should have proper processes in place to prevent overpayments and that there should be resource dedicated to investigating the issue. Whilst there is the initial financial issue of an
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