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Disability discriminationLatest NewsIndirect discriminationDismissalEmployment tribunals

Social worker awarded £154k discrimination payout

by Kavitha Sivasubramaniam 22 Aug 2024
by Kavitha Sivasubramaniam 22 Aug 2024 Shutterstock / Wirestock Creators
Shutterstock / Wirestock Creators

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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Kavitha Sivasubramaniam

Kavitha Sivasubramaniam is an experienced journalist, editor and communications professional who has been working in B2B publishing for more than 17 years. After graduating from Bournemouth University with a degree in Multi Media Journalism, Kavitha started her career in local and regional newspapers, before moving to consumer magazines and later trade titles, as well as PR. Specialising in pay and reward, she has been editor of a number of HR publications including Pay & Benefits, Employee Benefits, Benefits Expert, Reward and CIPP’s membership magazine, Professional. In June 2024, she won Pay, Reward and Employee Benefits Journalist of the Year at the Willis Towers Watson media awards. She was also named one of Each Person’s top 20 influential HR bloggers and managed a highly commended content team of the year in 2019.

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