Redbridge councillor Sahdia Warraich was criticised by the tribunal
(Picture: © 2022 Andrew Baker)A London councillor was found to have discriminated against a disabled employee in her day job, the Standard can reveal - with her NHS employer now being ordered to pay out more than £100,000.
Tower Hamlets GP Care Group, an alliance of the borough’s GPs, was last week ordered to pay out £104,000 after a successful claim brought by Rafealia Sahin for disability discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
Among the findings against the organisation was that Sahdia Warraich, a Labour councillor in Redbridge and the organisation’s social prescribing manager, “in effect weaponised” Ms Sahin’s epilepsy to “make life difficult” for her.
The case centred around Ms Sahin’s four-month employment in 2018, in which her relationship with her line manager broke down.
In a critical earlier ruling, an employment judge found that Ms Warraich “seized on the Claimant’s epilepsy” to deflect from criticism of her management.
“We have found that in effect Ms Warraich “weaponised” or used the Claimant’s disability as an excuse to make life difficult for the Claimant,” stated the ruling.
“We find that the Respondent would not have treated someone who did not have the condition of epilepsy in the same way and that this was an act of direct disability discrimination.”
The tribunal found the line manager made “alarmist” assumptions about the employee’s ability to do the job at a meeting because of her own family experience with disability, and that the claimant was left feeling pressured to widely disclose her disability at a meeting with HR two weeks later.
Among the reasons for the successful claim was that HR staff at the organisation referred Ms Sahin for an occupational health assessment, which “falsely” represented her health conditions and was “illustrative of an agenda” being pursued by Ms Warraich to suggest she was unfit for work.
The tribunal also found that Ms Warraich changed the claimant’s schedule, which made it harder to manage her condition, partly motivated by retaliation after she complained.
It also found that she accused the claimant of race discrimination to “deflect” from the complaints made against her, despite admitting to the tribunal there was no evidence for it.
The claimant was entitled to resign months into the job because of failings in how the organisation dealt with a grievance complaint, including by having a HR representative on the panel whom the grievance complaint concerned directly.
The resignation was due to disability discrimination because “part of the reason for it was the conduct of Ms Warraich that we have found to be unlawful discrimination”, the ruling states.
Allegations that restrictions placed on Ms Sahin’s role before mandatory training due to epilepsy were not found proven, nor were allegations that Ms Warraich had excluded her from some meetings for the same reason.
Friends of the councillor said she herself was disabled and cared for disabled family members.
“Everyone who knows Sahdia knows her as a disabled woman, a carer of her disabled family members and a disability champion,” said an ally.
“The judgement uses quotes nobody who knows Sahdia would recognise were from her while her employer is addressing the serious matters raised in the case.”
Ms Warraich joined the organisation in June 2018 and has represented Loxford ward in Redbridge since May 2021.
Chris Banks, Joint Chief Executive at Tower Hamlets GP Care Group, declined to comment on the specific case but said: “We aim to be a good employer and we have reviewed our training to enhance staff awareness of disabilities, and our procedures to ensure we respect and make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities.”
