An NHS worker who took 400 sick days in four years has won a £50,000 payout after being unfairly dismissed due to her mental health issues
Lancaster: An NHS cleaner named Zoe Kitching faced a tough time after being fired for taking over 400 sick days in just four years. She recently won a whopping £50,000 from a tribunal for her unfair dismissal.
Most of her sick days were due to complex mental health issues. Sadly, her boss didn’t recognize her as disabled, which led to her being let go. Zoe represented herself at a tribunal in Manchester and won her case against the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust.
She claimed disability discrimination and unfair dismissal, and the tribunal agreed. They awarded her nearly £50,000 in damages. Zoe often had breakdowns that caused her to miss work. She even asked for reduced hours, but her manager turned her down.
One of her longest absences lasted 130 days, from September 2020 to January 2021. Interestingly, despite being classified as disabled before, a report in January 2021 claimed she wasn’t disabled under the Equality Act 2010. This baffled the tribunal.
Her manager held meetings to discuss her absences and set targets for improvement. By June 2023, her attendance had improved, but she was still fired. The divisional manager was told by a colleague that Zoe wasn’t disabled, which played a big role in the decision.
The tribunal noted that Zoe was very upset about her dismissal. She explained that her absences were due to her mental health struggles and asked for another chance. Unfortunately, her appeal to overturn the dismissal was denied.
Records showed that from 2019 to June 2023, Zoe had 406 absence days. A staggering 85% of those were linked to her disability. The judge criticized the NHS trust for not allowing her the necessary time off and for failing to recognize her condition.
They pointed out that the decision to fire her was fundamentally flawed and discriminatory. The judge was particularly surprised that the advice given to the divisional manager was so off-base, given the medical evidence available.
