Managing serious illness

The recent tribunal case of Coghlan v Hideaway Club UK has highlighted the need to treat an employee’s serious illness with respect and due regard.

The case concerned Eimear Coghlan, PA to the chief executive of the Hideaway Club.  Ms Coghlan was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in 2014 and whilst the firm seemed to treat her with some concern initially, this eventually ceased until Ms Coghlan resigned and brought a successful claim for disability discrimination, harassment and injury to feelings.

Ms Coghlan actually wanted to continue working to the best of her ability, but this was apparently not enough for her boss, Poonam Dhawan-Leach, who ultimately decided that Ms Coghlan would have to take sick leave, on reduced pay for at least a half day when she had a medical appointment.  She also claimed that Ms Coghlan “had not done a single day’s work” in the three months since the initial diagnosis.  Speaking from experience, I can tell you that commuting and working while you are receiving chemotherapy is something of a challenge, but Ms Coghlan was still doing it.

It appears that Hideaway Club actually sought advice from their ‘HR consultants’ – it is not clear what advice they did or did not give, nor whether the firm followed that advice.

The point I want to highlight is this: where any cancer is diagnosed employers should automatically treat the employee as disabled.  This includes not taking sickness absence into account when calculating for the Bradford Factor.  There is likely to be a period of treatment prior to any surgery (it is common to try and shrink a tumour with chemotherapy first) which will be, at the least, debilitating.  Flexibility over work hours and hospital appointments are essential – and, let’s face it – kind.

In his judgement, Judge David Pearl said: “This was unwanted conduct related to her disability and it had the effect of creating a hostile, humiliating and offensive environment for her”.

Work with the employee to find solutions that will satisfy both parties and remember – nobody enjoys being seriously ill and cancer is very treatable, but you will need to make allowances and find compromises if you want to avoid a similar hefty fine (£47,000) and the legal costs associated with defending a case like this.

If you are having similar problems, we can help you to negotiate the best path for you and your employee.

Kate Foreman
Director of People and Learning