A former Edinburgh retinopathy screener is to be awarded £11,500 as the result of an unfair dismissal and disability discrimination tribunal against NHS Lothian.
Lynne Buchan is set to receive the sum following the outcome where it was agreed that the health board failed in their duty to make reasonable adjustments to her following a workplace-related accident and subsequent prolonged period off work.
NHS Lothian were ordered to pay £11,571.65 by way of compensation for injury to feelings. However, claims made by Ms Buchan regarding disability harassment as a result of the injury she sustained following the accident were not successful and dismissed.
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Ms Buchan listed several claims against the health board and her colleagues throughout the hearing, most of which detailed how she was reportedly a victim of discrimination following an accident which left her signed off work for over two years. She also, on several occasions, questioned her sick pay allowance.
Prior to the accident, Ms Buchan developed lower back pain and numbness in her fingers. She attended an assessment with the Occupational Health Service in relation to the pain but it did not impact her ability to attend work and she had not recorded any period of absence due to sickness.
However, in April 2019, Ms Buchan was involved in a workplace accident after opening one of the back doors of the van she used for work. The wheelchair ramp extended rapidly, of its own volition, opening the other door. Ms Buchan understands this was caused by a broken hydraulic pipe and she was hit in the process, falling to the ground.
While injured as a result, she did not take time off work. The following day, Ms Buchan made her line manager aware that her existing pain had become worse, specifically pain and numbness in her left arm.
Following recommendation from the Occupational Health Service, Ms Buchan was signed off work as a result of her persistent pain, despite thinking she could 'push through'. Before being signed off, Ms Buchan was reportedly in tears between patients.
Ms Buchan's absence became long term at the end of July 2019 when she had been off work for a month. On November 22, 2019, Ms Buchan was declared unfit to work for a further eight weeks.
In January 2020, Ms Buchan noticed her pay had significantly reduced and wrote a letter to the Deputy Director of HR detailing several grievances about how the situation had been dealt with by her line manager.
She said: "I do not have a clue what is happening and this is terrifying. This is also my first period of absence in my career with NHS Lothian so I would have benefitted from further support and assurance that my personal welfare was a consideration.
"I could go on and on with, in my opinion, practices that deviate from HR best practice and show inconsistency and poor leadership. For me, the accumulation of all the issues mentioned have left me feeling unsupported and undervalued at a very vulnerable time in my life.
"I currently don't know what my recovery will be and how this will affect my career and lifestyle/well-being moving forward. I also feel that there has been a breakdown in trust between myself and my line manager due to the above breaches and how this incident has been handled."
Ms Buchan was later informed that she had been unsuccessful in her application for injury allowance. In a new revelation, it was discovered that Ms Buchan should in fact have been receiving 50 percent pay until a final review meeting for longterm absence had taken place. Ms Buchan, at the time, was not receiving any pay.
Throughout 2020, Ms Buchan's mental health started to suffer as a result of the long-term effects of the dispute and lack of pay as well as constant pain, with her partner also becoming concerned.
At the start of August 2020, Ms Buchan's line manager admitted that she struggled to work with her and also accepted that she had no experience managing longterm absence cases, was not familiar with the relevant policies and did not refer to these when managing Ms Buchan's absence.
During a meeting in September 2020, Ms Buchan became upset when the notion of a dismissal was mentioned, and asked about the possibility of working from home when she was deemed fit to do so.
Ms Buchan was eventually informed that her injury allowance application was successful, entitling her to 85 percent pay for the next 12 months from when she reduced to half pay and that it would be paid in a lump sum.
At a meeting on 25 August 2021 Ms Buchan was told that a decision to terminate her employment had been made on grounds of capability as she would be unable to achieve and maintain the expected standard of attendance in her current role, or any other role. By this point, she had been absent from her role for two years.
Janis Butler, Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development for NHS Lothian, said: “We do not comment on individual members of staff or former staff.”
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