An NHS hospital cleaner who was made redundant after taking more than 400 days off sick in just four years has been awarded £50,000 in compensation.
Zoe Kitching had several long periods of sick leave from 2019 to 2023 as she struggled with “complex mental health issues”.
But when her bosses sacked her for absenteeism, they failed to recognize she was disabled despite “a wealth of evidence”, the court ruled.
An employment tribunal said they were “particularly surprised” that one NHS boss insisted she was not disabled before she was unfairly dismissed.
The tribunal ruled it was “irrational and wrong” to deny Ms Kitching disability status and said she should have been afforded more sick leave.
Mrs Kitching, a cleaner at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, successfully sued the trust that runs the site, Morecambe Bay University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Representing herself at a hearing in Manchester, she won claims of disability discrimination and unfair dismissal.
She has now received compensation of £49,147.
The court was told that Ms Kitching worked at the Lancaster Suite at the Royal Lancaster Hospital.
She was said to have suffered from anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder. Her problems were described as “complex”.
Hospital records show that from 2019 to June 2023 – when she was fired – she had a total of 406 days of absence.
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Of the 406 days, 85 percent were related to her disability, and 12 percent were due to non-disability related reasons, such as Covid-19 or the common cold and flu.
One disability absence, from September 2020 to January 2021, lasted 130 days.
It was heard that Mrs Kitching sometimes had breakdowns which led to absences.
She asked her manager, Ruth Bradburn, if she could reduce her hours at the Lancaster suite, but Mrs. Bradburn refused the request.
Although she had previously been classified as disabled, in January 2021 the hospital received an occupational health report which “interestingly” stated that she was “not a disabled person within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010”, the court found .
Over the following months, Ms Bradburn – head of the patient environment service – held meetings with Ms Kitching about her absences and set her targets for reducing days off.
By June 2023, her absences had improved, but she was fired by David Passant, Divisional Manager of Facilities.
Christopher Brisley, business partner of People & OD, said Mr. Passant that Mrs. Kitching is not disabled.
NHS chiefs are heard to have only considered the occupational health report from January 2021 and ignored other clear evidence that Ms Kitching was disabled.
Ms Kitching felt her “mental disability was overlooked”.
The judgment of the Tribunal states: “[Ms Kitching] was extremely upset by the decision to fire her and the refusal of Mr. Passanta to admit it [she] was a person with a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010.
“[Ms Kitching] asked for another chance and explained that her absences were due to mental health. [She] said that it was unnecessary for him to lose his job.
“[Ms Kitching] he was extremely upset after the decision on appeal was made not to overturn the original dismissal decision. We accepted [her] proof that she felt she had been fired twice.”
Employment Judge Robert Childe criticized the managers, saying “at no time … did Ruth Bradburn form the opinion that [Ms Kitching] had a disability” and that “Mr. Passant did not lie that she was disabled”.
Judge Childe said: “We found [NHS trust] should allow for a high level of sickness absence overall [Ms Kitching] and failure to do so was failure to make adjustments.
“We think it is [NHS trust] he did not act reasonably when he considered this to be a sufficient reason for dismissal [Ms Kitching] in the circumstances.
“At no time during the dismissal meeting or the appeal meeting did he [NHS trust] I agree with that [Ms Kitching] was a disabled person… which led to an unfair and fundamentally wrong and discriminatory decision on dismissal [her].
“There was a wealth of medical evidence available… that [Ms Kitching] was disabled.
“We were particularly surprised that Christopher Brisley advised this to Mr. Passant [Ms Kitching] she was not a disabled person.
“The decision to deny it [Ms Kitching] was incapacitated either irrationally or wrongly, given the available medical evidence to the contrary.”
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Zoe Kitching was a cleaner at the Royal Lancaster InfirmaryCredit: Alamy
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