Ex-teacher awarded £800k over discrimination by council during cancer treatment

A former teacher has won an £800,000 award at an Employment Tribunal after she lost her job with Lancashire County Council while being treated for cancer.

Ms J Healey had liability in her case determined at hearings in August and December 2021.

Employment Judge Leach noted the claimant had succeeded in complaints of unfair dismissal and discrimination and that a further hearing in September 2023 concerned only remedy.

Judge Leach said in his ruling that the claimant was entitled to £800,713.59 made up of a basic award and further sums for personal injury, injury to feelings, aggravated damages, actual and expected losses and pension loss together with interest.

The judge also presided at the two earlier hearings, where he said the tribunal decided the claimant was unfairly dismissed by Lancashire, which discriminated against her in breach of section 15 Equality Act 2010 by requiring her to apply and be interviewed for a role which was substantially the same as the role she had carried out since 2012.

“That competitive interview process amounted to unfavourable treatment because of something arising from the claimant’s disability,” the judge said. “That something was her long absence from work and treatment for cancer.”

Judge Leach said Lancashire required employees to go through a competitive interview process when deciding who to appoint to a role during a restructuring when there was more than one suitable candidate for the role.

This put people with a disability “at a substantial disadvantage and it put the claimant at that disadvantage”.

The 2021 hearings were told that Ms Healey was employed as an early years’ specialist and is a qualified teacher.

She was absent for cancer treatment for the whole of 2015 and returned to work in May 2016, but cancer returned the following year requiring more absence for treatment until early 2019.

Lancashire in 2018 undertook a restructuring of its early years team, after which the claimant claimed she had suffered discrimination.

She was dismissed in April 2021 having not accepted a role identified for her.

Mark Smulian