NHS consultant awarded £4.5 million in Employment Tribunal in 2011

[PrettyDamnCosmic]

I was about to post this on the Sandie Peggie thread as this case came up in discussion there but I thought it would sidetrack that thread & was worthy of discussion on its own. It's historic but a good indication of how badly the NHS can behave when ganging up on an employee.

Several threads back passing reference was made to another NHS Employment Tribunal case in 2011 that was gob-smackingly awful. The claimant was awarded £4.5 million for unfair dismissal, sex discrimination and race discrimination.

I found & posted the judgment & have now had the opportunity to read through it properly. Briefly in 2002 the claimant Dr Eva Michalak was appointed a consultant in Acute Medicine. She was the first female consultant in that department & there was some bad feeling among her colleagues when she took maternity leave shortly after taking up her appointment & the others were forced to cover her absence. There was then a sustained campaign of bullying & plotting to have her fired that involved many consultants & went on for years with secret meetings. She was eventually fired in 2009 after a trumped up disciplinary

Her husband acted for her at the ET. He gave up his job to work full time on the case. She was a total wreck diagnosed with PTSD & unable to ever work again all related to how she had been treated by the Trust & her colleagues. The Trust claimed that there had been no plan to push her out of the job but during the process of discovery documents revealed that is exactly what the Trust had been doing & it was all documented.

The judgment is just extraordinary. The Trust CEO lied to the court. The Medical Director lied to the court. The HR Director lied to the court. Three of the four members of the disciplinary panel who decided to dismiss the claimant were unable under cross-examination to explain why she had been dismissed.

In rejecting the claimant's contention that future loss of earnings should be calculated on the basis that she would only have retired at 75 years of age, the tribunal relied on no less an authority than John Lennon and quoted the lyrics from his song “Beautiful Boy” (1980), namely: “Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans”.

I have included links to the judgment plus some other discussions of the case. It shows just how awful NHS culture can be & how appallingly employees get treated. I hope that there is enough reading here for everyone until the Sandie Peggie tribunal resumes tomorrow.

data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2014-1569/1810815_2008_Judgment.pdf

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-16224062

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/husband-of-doctor-in-ps45m-bias-payout-speaks-out-1913419

www.foxwilliams.com/2016/10/03/nhs-consultant-awarded-4-5-million-for-sex-and-race-discrimination/

app.croneri.co.uk/law-and-guidance/case-reports/michalak-v-mid-yorkshire-nhs-trust-2011-employment-tribunal-case-no

Hmm. I must be thinking of something similar I read recently. It was shocking- despite being a diverse area, there was no diversity among those judging her. I’ll try and find it.

A first tier ET is not a precedent afaik. It needs to be a decision from a higher court like the Employment Appeal Tribunal or the SC.

It can be a landmark.

It’s a really good piece of training just reading it. I have no doubt that the consultant wasn’t the easiest of colleagues - the judgement says the same. But the clear fact that her having the temerity to ask for and get her legal entitlements such as maternity leave triggered a group decision to get rid of her by any means necessary is really shocking, partly as I say because it’s a recognisable picture. I have a dear friend who has perhaps a not entirely dissimilar work style - I would put money on her perhaps getting a diagnosis if she were at school now - and if either self employed or managed really well, is a team member you would dream of - 100% focused on her work, very intelligent, actually takes constructive criticism and coaching really well and never forgets. But if badly managed or in a poor team culture things can and have gone very tits up for her.

I will stand up for the NHS and say that there are highly functional and well managed teams all over the NHS, while recognising entirely that this kind of flabby, vindictive and yet ineffective ‘mates rates’ culture is much too prevalent.

Reasons paragraph 56 discusses diversity in re: race and ethnicity. And there is criticism at the close of para 60.

Paragraph 6 of the reserved judgment upheld race discrimination against 4 respondents.

I only commented about women.

Yes. The NHS Trust and the named employees were held jointly responsible and liable to pay the award. The NHS has serious issues, and is constantly forced to pay out at employment tribunals although I believe it is very rare for named employees to also pay out alongside the Trust.

I will never work in the NHS again if I can help it.

Wow.

All i can think of is - they didn't learn, did they? Which means the chances of them learning from Sandie Peggie or Darlington could also be quite low.

a friend who recently changed jobs and now works in a hospital has found a lot of passive aggressive hostility with one individual with whom she must work closely. Shes leaving soon as a result. Wouldn’t raise it though; I can’t help thinking that some of this is normalised in the nhs.

it’s taken very seriously in education. If you have a culture of bullying/ hostility or even just low level unprofessional behaviour, it can lead to safeguarding failures. A dominant personality can sway others to look the other way, people do not feel confident enough to question or challenge others or at basic levels, pieces of information about children aren’t shared as effectively- which could lead to a larger issue for an individual child. And worst case scenario would be direct harm.

given the nhs are dealing with vulnerable patients daily they really should be following the same approach.

It's bound to be taken into consideration.
SP is going to win this.
Are Fife daft enough 🤔 to take it to Appeal?

We've got MSPs saying stop throwing money at it. A First Minster who is still backing Fife.

Sandie is gearing up to go after the Union.

Are Fife going to go after Stonewall for giving them duff advice?

I don' envisage it being anywhere near £4m. Most of the payment would be loss of earnings ... SP is a nurse not a consultant. I am certain she will win and get a hefty payment but doubt it will cover her costs [though they can ask for costs].

It absolutely should cover her costs. They completely failed her.
They minuted concerns about him in the changing room 3mths before she commented to him he shouldn't be in the changing room. And she gets suspended for that.

Then the patient safety allegations.

Then the stress.

Out and out bullying

And you know what? Fife are so ridiculously incompetent, I could just see them appealing to a higher court if they lose. Either way this is the best sunshine we could hope for, so I hope they keep Bumbaling (sic/pun intended) on.

It would be even more funny if they it.
Wouldn't surprise me if John Swinney encourages them to do so. Remember hes backing Fife.

I worked in the NHS very successfully for decades until my career ended after bullying and harassment from a male at work during which my employer failed to support me and then lied and denied their failings.

It took six years to get them to court and the case was finally settled a week before the hearing was due to start.

My bully was a well known trouble maker who had bullied other members of staff over the years but he was very difficult and intimidating to manage and the trust was frightened of him so he was able to play the system and avoid further consequences when he started on me.

Sadly reading the details of this awful case does not surprise me at all.
The lies told by people in very senior positions to cover their spineless and useless backs took my breath away.

I had stupidly assumed they must be both competent and honest to have got to where they were but I soon realised my mistake.

I ended up with a large cheque but I lost my health and a career which I loved.
It wasn’t the actions of the bully that caused the lasting damage it was the shock of finding out there was nobody willing to stand up with me against him.

It changed me and my view of the world forever.

Reading the judge’s description of this poor woman under cross examination desperate to ensure she explains everything fully takes me right back to exactly how I felt.

I hope she can eventually find some degree of peace.

I am so sorry Whitehorses67.

Thank you for the clarification LondonPapa.

I had a cursory look online and it seems most the NHS staff involved who were admonished by the tribunal ended up remaining with the NHS. So internally they seemed to suffer no repercussions for their actions.

The non-NHS people seem to have experienced no detriments to their honours and other job appointments.

Because this is a First Tribunal and not binding on other cases or Trusts might they may feel they need to Appeal for knowledge certainty. This result, by itself would not offer much guidance for an HR manager in the future.
The First Minister has little choice about backing The Trust, if he failed to back his Officers He would have to take over and admit liability and the Govt would have to pay up.
It would be nice to see her Union challenged. I would borrow good money for a ticket to that show!

I was hoping that there was a secret mole or someone with a conscience involved, who slipped the information in amongst other stuff. But as you say, probably incompetence.