Athelstane Aamodt examines the legal implications of Chelsea FC’s treatment of its club doctor
José Mourinho caused a lot of controversy recently when he banned the club’s doctor, Dr Eva Carneiro, from attending Chelsea’s football matches or training sessions. The reason for the furore around this ban is that Carneiro seems to have been punished very publicly for doing absolutely nothing wrong.
The facts of the incident are well-known: Carneiro and Jon Fearn (the club’s physiotherapist) ran on to the pitch during Chelsea’s 2–2 draw with West Bromwich Albion to attend to Eden Hazard. Chelsea were already down to ten men, and Mourinho angrily remonstrated with the medical team, given that it would mean that the medical attention would cause Chelsea to be temporarily reduced to nine men.
Carneiro was, according to The Daily Telegraph, told on the Tuesday after the match that she would no longer be attending training sessions or matches as club doctor.
Many employment lawyers have probably asked themselves: has Carneiro been constructively dismissed by Chelsea FC?
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