A NatWest executive who was dismissed just days after undergoing cancer surgery has been awarded £90,000 in compensation.
Adeline Willis’ tribunal claim against the bank was described as being “tainted with discrimination” when it went to tribunal in February 2022. She won her claim for unfair dismissal and her claim for disability discrimination was partially successful.
Willis worked as a senior risk and compliance professional and had been seconded to a job in operational continuity after her previous role had been made redundant.
The secondment was, however, based in Edinburgh while Willis was based in London. She was led to believe the role might be relocated, but approval for this had not been sought.
When Willis was diagnosed with colon cancer in August 2019, she informed her manager that she would work from home on days she needed hospital scans and treatment. Her line manager was changed during this time, something the tribunal pointed out to be unfavourable treatment.
At a later stage, Willis discovered she required daily chemotherapy and radiotherapy, followed by an operation scheduled for early 2020. The tribunal heard that her manager sought advice from HR at the time about terminating her secondment early as her work was “too critical”.
When she joined a weekly meeting from home after her treatment, she was told by her former line manager that she was not needed. The bank claimed this was a move intended to be supportive and reduce her workload, but Willis said she felt humiliated.
Shortly before her operation, she requested an extension to her secondment as a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act, but her former manager said she should not be looking for other roles, and that it was “ridiculous”.
Willis was not given an end-of-year review and subsequently received her lowest-ever bonus from the bank.
While her treatment was taking place, the possibility of extending her secondment was discussed by HR, where the team understood there was “no role” after the end of the post and that “it was not expected that she would ever come back to work”, according to court documents.
A one-month extension was granted on compassionate grounds, but Willis was then informed her employment would end on 4 April 2020.
While recuperating from her operation, Willis began to look for other roles within the bank but was unsuccessful, and her employment was terminated on the April date with an enhanced redundancy payment.
Deciding on appropriate compensation, the court said it was “satisfied that [Willis] was extremely hurt by those actions which we have found to be discriminatory”, and so gave an award in the middle of the top band (£35,000) for injury to feelings. In total, she was awarded £87,699.84, including loss of earnings.
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A spokesman for NatWest said: “We are sorry that there were things the bank did not get right and where we fell short of the standards our colleagues expect. We recognise the extremely difficult personal circumstances in this case and have taken steps to ensure this cannot happen again.”
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