An NHS secretary - Eileen Jolly - who was sacked at 86 years of age has won a payout in an age discrimination case. She was awarded £200,000 which the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust agreed to pay, despite saying that it was disappointed by the outcome.
Mrs Jolly, who had been employed at the hospital since 1991, was dismissed from the NHS trust in 2017 after she failed to upload details of cancer patients awaiting non-urgent breast reconstruction surgery into a new database. The result of her omission was that three patients waited 52 weeks from the date of their initial referral for surgery - a breach of NHS guidelines. The NHS trust also described Mrs Jolly as being stuck in old secretarial ways.
The Reading Employment Tribunal, led by Judge Andrew Gumbiti-Zimuto heard that in 2015 Mrs Jolly had been given a short training session on the computer when the waiting lists were made electronic. However, she told the tribunal that she had not been properly trained to use the new system, which led to mistakes being made.
Mrs Jolly also claimed that there had been unpleasant remarks made about her age and health - in particular questioning her ability to walk the length of the building. She told the tribunal that, despite suffering a cardiac arrest in 2006, she had not been off sick. She said:
“I felt as though it had been assumed that at my age and because of my health I was a liability and incapable of change, and had to go. It had been my intention to continue to work for as long as I could – until I was at least 90 years old.”
In 2016 she was suspended and described being humiliated when she was told to collect her things and escorted from the premises. In 2017, she was dismissed for a "catastrophic failure in performance".
Judge Gumbiti-Zimuto agreed that her dismissal had been unfair and “tainted by discrimination”. He also found that her grievances had not been properly addressed and that sufficient training had not been offered to her.
His judgment stated:
“The claimant had not been carrying out the role in the way that the respondent wished the role to be carried out and had not understood the nature of the role that she was expected to perform by the respondent.
Instead of the respondent addressing that issue directly and either training her and then requiring her to do the role as directed the claimant was dismissed. This was because of her age.”
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust was ordered to pay Mrs Jolly £200,000 within 14 days. A spokeswoman for the trust stated:
"The trust has complied with the tribunal's order to pay the agreed sum to Mrs Jolly by way of compensation. Given that these proceedings have been upsetting and distressing for all concerned, the trust is pleased this matter is now concluded and parties can move on. It wishes Mrs Jolly all the best for the future.”
The statement also said:
“The trust is disappointed by the outcome in this case. However, the trust has and operates an equal opportunities policy and, following a detailed review of the case, is taking steps ensure that lessons are learned and that all reasonable steps are taken to prevent any form of discrimination from occurring in the workplace.”
