A diabetic hotel worker has won £30,000 for being sacked after shouting at his boss because his blood sugar levels were high. Guy Eykyn was fired after he made an unprofessional comment to his boss 'well, why don’t you do it then, huh?'.
But a tribunal found his outburst was due to particularly high blood sugar levels on that day due to his Type 1 diabetes. Mr Eykyn was awarded £29,746.54 in compensation after winning a case of disability discrimination.
The tribunal, held in Southampton, Hants, heard Mr Eykyn worked as a food and beverage assistant at the stunning Park House Hotel in Midhurst, West Sussex, from February 2020 until his dismissal in August 2020. When Mr Eykyn was interviewed for the job, he told operations manager Stuart Brown his blood glucose levels could go up and down due to his diabetes.
The tribunal found that Mr Brown 'did not carry out any further enquiries, or seek to educate himself further as to the condition, a lapse, we find, on his part, as a manager of a disabled employee'. Mr Eykyn was told to stop looking on his phone at work by Mr Brown in July, when he had been monitoring his blood glucose levels with his phone thanks to a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) on his arm which he could then check using an app.
Concerns were raised about Mr Eykyn including him turning up late for shifts and a meeting was held a few days later, in which he asked if he could take orange juice or coke from the bar if his sugar levels dropped too low. The tribunal heard Mr Brown agreed, but told him 'not to take the piss'.
A few days after this incident, Mr Eykyn said he raised his voice at his boss when Mr Brown was 'hovering' next to him and asking him questions. He told the tribunal: "I did raise my voice and said ‘well, why don’t you do it then, huh?’ I admit this was unprofessional, but I did not swear or use any inappropriate language'.
The panel heard Mr Brown asked to see him privately at the end of service. Mr Eykyn claimed the way Mr Brown spoke to him then was an act of harassment, saying he felt 'intimidated' by his 'hostile tone'. He said: "I was never to speak to him or raise my voice to him, especially in front of other staff, or I’d be gone from this place."
Mr Eykyn said he apologised the next day to Mr Brown and explained that his behaviour was due to his blood sugar levels. Despite admitting to the tribunal he accepted this apology, Mr Brown decided to dismiss Mr Eykyn two days later.
Employment Judge Colm O'Rourke ruled the treatment of Mr Eykyn was disability discrimination, as they were shown graphs of his blood sugar levels which showed he had a high of 17.1 on the 28th which could have explained his behaviour.
