A teacher has won 137,112 for discrimination and harassment due to her disability, after being told she “let colleagues down” by taking sick leave for an operation.
Annika Fay Robinson, who was employed on a fixed-term teaching contract at Middlesex Learning Trust, experienced sciatica, spinal surgery and migraines, resulting in repeated periods of sickness absence, tribunal documents noted.
The Trust's senior deputy head stated that Robinson had “let [her] colleagues down and [her] students down” by being absent, a tribunal judgment published on 15 October shows.
The headteacher had said: “It would be easy to be cynical in that [Robinson’s] return to work from her back operation coincided with when she was due to go to half pay and that she returned to work for a few days before going off with ill-health again.” The tribunal found these comments amounted to harassment related to her disability.
The tribunal also found that the incidents were unwanted, connected to Robinson’s disability, and had created an intimidating or degrading environment.
"Employers should not rely solely on the expiry of a fixed-term contract to justify dismissal or inaction where disability-related concerns are present,” Katie Garcia, associate in the employment team at law firm Birketts, told HR magazine.
"While it may be tempting to take a sceptical view of the timing of an employee’s return to work, employers must be mindful that assumptions or comments of that nature can amount to harassment...
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