THE University of Edinburgh has been ordered to award more than £1 million to a professor after an employment tribunal found she was unfairly dismissed.
The Herald reported that Professor Roya Sheikholeslami, who is from Iran, was let go without following proper procedures according to the tribunal – which also found that she was victimised for raising concerns about sex discrimination.
The university will now pay Sheikholeslami £1,145,216.26 in compensation.
Sheikholeslami joined the University of Edinburgh in May 2007 as a professor of chemical process engineering and received a start-up package of £948,000 – £600,000 of which was to go towards refurbishing of a laboratory.
That refurbishment, however, was delayed by more than a year. Sheikholeslami, therefore, did not have access to a working lab until September 2009.
The tribunal found that there was “miscommunication” about her expected involvement in setting up the laboratory.
Sheikholeslami had work-related stress and depression diagnosed and took time off in January 2010, in which time her salary was reduced.
In April 2010, Sheikholeslami and Professor Andrea Schaefer, the only other female engineering professor at the time, alleged that they were “completely disabled in our employment due to gender discrimination”.
A university review found that male colleagues thought that female professors were appointed “because they were women, not because they were good enough”.
Both women received an apology from the university.
The tribunal also found that actions, including the subsequent reallocation of her laboratory and removal of her supervisory duties for a PhD student – made without her involvement – amounted to victimisation.
In December 2011 Sheikholeslami was informed that her work permit would expire in April 2012 and that the university could not offer her another position – with the academic claiming the university failed to provide adequate support or explore further options.
In January 2012, the university issued a formal notice of dismissal – which the tribunal found was unfair.
While the tribunal did not uphold her claim of sex discrimination, it found that she was victimised for raising concerns about it.
The tribunal also found that the university didn’t “take steps that it reasonably could to try to ensure the claimant’s immigration status would not be compromised by her absences caused by her disability and, if necessary, take all reasonable steps to ensure that the claimant would not be at risk of losing her lawful working status”.
The University of Edinburgh said: “While we respect the judgment, we do not comment on individual cases and won’t provide a further statement on the matter.”
