A social worker who was discriminated against and constructively dismissed has been awarded nearly £154,000 by an employment tribunal.
Ms Griffiths won her case against Essex County Council after the judge ruled she had resigned over a lack of trust and because she felt it was an “unsafe place to work”.
The authority was ordered to pay Ms Griffiths £153,906.54, which included £25,000 compensation for injury to her feelings.
Ms Griffiths, who was disabled and suffered from depression and anxiety, had worked in various teams in the council’s children and families service since 2004.
In 2018, allegations were made against her about conduct and administration. In a meeting, Ms Griffiths was informed of the complaints but wasn’t told what they concerned, who had raised them, or whether there were plans to investigate them.
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She asked for more information about them in an email and was told there nothing further could be shared at that time. But, according to the records, no dissatisfactions or complaints had been raised against Ms Griffiths since 2015.
After an initial hearing last year, an employment judge said: “There was no evidence presented to us that she was someone who did not do her job well and had not maintained high professional standards.”
By early 2019, Ms Griffiths’s mental health was suffering and her anxiety levels increased. She began to suffer from panic attacks and often broke down in meetings, which led to her taking sick leave and having to apply for loan so that she could pay her mortgage and bills when she no longer received her full pay.
She eventually resigning from her role as child-in-need reviewing officer in 2020.
The ruling stated: “It is our judgment that the claimant resigned because she believed that she could not trust the respondent and that it was an unsafe place to work and because it was likely that this could happen again, given that there had been no sanctions applied to those who had made unfounded complaints against her and refused to accept that they were so.”
A spokesperson for Essex County Council said: “We take on board the guidance and recommendations made by this Employment Tribunal judgment. Essex County Council strives to comply with equality and employment requirements. We take these obligations and the continued learning very seriously.”
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