A London PA won her employment tribunal after the Judge ruled she was treated unfairly whilst receiving treatment for cancer.

The support offered by the employer when she first received the diagnosis was as you would expect – she was shown sympathy, concern and arrangements were made to fit treatments and appointments in around her work.

After she and her employer had an initial disagreement about her needing to take time off, she was forced to work in a hostile environment where she received unfair treatment.

Their working relationship deteriorated further after the employer accused her employee of  doing too little work and said she did not feel it was a sustainable option for her business to keep her on. The flexible working arrangements were then revoked.

The employer was described as someone keen to stick to policy and procedure and that by having an employee who was ill was somewhat of an inconvenience to her.

The situation came to a head when the employee was refused sick leave shortly before an operation. She went to visit her GP who promptly signed her off with stress.

The tribunal Judge concluded the employee was not treated with the dignity she deserved and that she received irrational treatment whilst employed. He criticised the employer, saying that at a time when she needed to be supportive her main concern was to maintain control of the situation.  

Head of the Lawson-West Employment department, Vaishali Thakerar, comments: “This is a shocking story but is unfortunately one we see time and again.

As an employer you must remain flexible if you have an employee who has an ongoing condition and make all of the reasonable adjustments necessary.

The Equality Act protects people if they have, or have ever had cancer. Even if they have been successfully treated and are now considered 'cured', they are still covered by the act, which means employers cannot discriminate against them for a reason relating to a past illness.

If you need more information please contact myself of my team on 0116 212 1000 / 01858 445 480.”

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