An admin worker has won her unfair dismissal case after bosses demanded she return to the office at the start of the pandemic despite isolating because her husband had cancer. Bridget Regnante said she was ‘terrified’ of catching coronavirus and giving it to her ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ husband and the pair had even divided their house in two.
An employment tribunal heard she could do the ‘majority’ of her job working from home but bosses insisted she had to go in for ‘fairness and equality’ as they felt she was ‘exaggerating’ the problem with her husband. After being given an ultimatum of either returning or taking unpaid leave, Mrs Regnante resigned and an employment tribunal has now ruled she was unfairly forced out as her bosses did not apply ‘common sense’ to Covid guidance.
The tribunal heard Mrs Regnante worked as an administrator for Essex Care Limited which provided care and equipment to people in their homes. Even though the company was providing a front line service, Mrs Regnante’s role in administration could largely be done from home, the employment tribunal heard.
