Hospital worker injured in a fall was unfairly dismissed

A Lincoln hospital worker who suffered years of pain after a fall was unfairly dismissed by Lincolnshire health trust, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Mandie Miller was unable to carry out her normal work after fracturing her wrist during a fall.

The hospital’s Occupational Health advisor recommended she be given another job at the hospital instead.

Instead, she faced years on sick leave before being turned down for the role she had set her heart on.

An employment tribunal held in Nottingham ruled that this amounted to unfair dismissal and discrimination.

However, it turned down her claims that she had suffered harassment and breach of contract.

The United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust has now apologised and said it has learnt from the mistakes.

Ms Miller began working for the trust in 2009, and later became a Healthcare Support Worker on the Carlton Coleby ward with an “unblemished disciplinary record”.

In 2017, she fell from her loft, fracturing her wrist in two places, losing a tooth and getting a black eye.

She was unable to carry out her normal work of assisting doctors and nurses due to the severe pain.

Her mental health also suffered during this period, and it was agreed that she be redeployed to a less strenuous job.

Ms Miller was left unable to perform her usual role after a fall | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Hospital bosses promised she would get preferential treatment for jobs she applied for, without needing to sit through a competitive interview.

However, she ended up on sick leave for several years waiting for hiring to begin for an available Ward Clerk role to start hiring.

When it eventually took place, she was asked to attend a regular interview.

The tribunal heard she was “suffering from stress, anxiety and her physical impairment on the day which affected her ability to perform well”, and was turned down for the job.

A hospital hearing was told she had been absent for a total of 948 days, with just 26 back at work,  and no prospect of securing a new job soon.

She was dismissed, but an employment tribunal found a reasonable employer would have given her the new job instead.

It added that that the hospital should also have sought up-to-date information on her medical condition first.

However, it noted that Ms Miller hadn’t applied for any other jobs besides the one she had set her heart on.

A spokesperson for ULHT said: “We fully accept the findings of the Employment Tribunal and would like to offer our sincere apologies to Ms Miller for the circumstances which led to this case being heard, the Trust has already implemented actions to ensure that it learns from this judgement.”

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