A
telecommunications company has agreed to pay £50,000 to the parents of one of
its employees who died two years ago.
An
employment tribunal decided last week that Simon Haddon, who was sacked for
taking time off work to attend kidney dialysis sessions, was unfairly
dismissed.
The
panel ruled Telewest Communications unfairly dismissed Haddon and unlawfully
discriminated against him because of his disability.
Telewest
agreed to reinstate Haddon ‘retrospectively’ and pay £50,000 in compensation to
his parents.
The
firm said in a statement, “Telewest accepts it should have acted differently to
accommodate Mr Haddon’s disability and has since put in place procedures to
prevent this happening again.
“Telewest
is also looking carefully at the tribunal’s findings to be certain that it has
done everything to make the treatment of its employees with disabilities reach
the highest standards.
“Telewest
acknowledges and is sorry for the distress caused to Mr Haddon and his
parents.”
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The
ruling in favour of Haddon, who died in 1999, is thought to be the first
successful unfair dismissal claim on behalf of a deceased person.
