A former NHS employee has been awarded £1m compensation after being unfairly dismissed following an incident in a hospital car park.
The claim, before Judge Sage at London (South) Employment Tribunal, Croydon (Hastings v King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Case No: 2300394/2016) was brought by Richard Hastings, a former IT manager at the Trust. Hastings was accused of assault in 2015 after attempting to note down a delivery van’s registration number and to defend himself when racially abused and assaulted by the delivery driver.
Hastings called hospital security for help but no record of the call was logged and nobody came to his aid, although the security office confirmed they had received the call. He was subsequently dismissed for gross misconduct.
However, the tribunal found the disciplinary processes of the hospital trust were biased and discriminatory. Failings included a difference in treatment between the contractors in the delivery van and Hastings, a British man of Caribbean descent, whose evidence was shown to have been treated with distrust and disbelief. The tribunal found Hastings to be an honest witness, while identifying inconsistencies and flaws in the opposing evidence.
Hastings was represented by Louise Brown, solicitor, and Carole Spencer, paralegal, at Excello Law. Brown said: ‘The tribunal found that the Trust's initial investigation into Mr Hastings' suspension was “fundamentally flawed” and served only to support the organisation's bias towards our client.
‘The substantial damages awarded by the tribunal reflect the significant loss of Mr Hastings’ pension rights following his dismissal and serve as a timely reminder to employers with final salary schemes in place that a failure to follow fair, unbiased and thorough disciplinary procedures, that are not tainted with discrimination, can result in huge compensation awards.’
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