A geography teacher failed to return to work after sickness absence due to work-related stress has had a tribunal ruling of unfair dismissal and victimisation after a damning reference from their employer.
Iqbal Haq was dismissed from Marsden Heights Community College after he was dismissed by the school before he returned to work following being signed off on sick leave. The tribunal’s view that the decision to dismiss Haq was rushed. It must also be noted that an employment judge noted that if a fair process had been followed, this case would still have likely resulted in dismissal due to the claimant’s refusal to attend performance meetings.
The claimants claim of unfair dismissal and victimisation were successful but claims of racial discrimination and harassment were not upheld.
In this case, the tribunal viewed that Haq was unfairly dismissed because of the school’s handling of the formal process and failure to wait until end of the sickness absence before making a decision to dismiss.
Following a letter received in July informing Haq of his dismissal, he applied for a role at another school and claimed that negative comments about him in his reference led to him not being employed by the other school.
If you have concerns about managing sickness absence for an employee or if you have received a reference request for an individual currently undergoing a formal process or who has recently been dismissed and are concerned about how to complete this, please get in touch with the team for advice on how to respond and manage the process. Just ask!
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