A former council employee with an extremely rare neurological condition is to receive a £9,000 payout after she was forced to resign. Alison Crowther, a former manager of a learning centre, had been diagnosed with an illness that her specialist said they had only seen twice in their career.
Spontaneous intracranial hypotension caused her “blinding” headaches, balance problems, dizziness and physical weakness. An employment tribunal heard she would have spells of incapacity but could have “good days”.
The council worker was employed at the Everdon Outdoor Learning Centre, near Daventry from January 2013. She went off sick in April 2018 and never returned to full-time work there, NotthantsLive reports.
A newly published report from the tribunal held in January, details the events leading up to the former employee's resignation.
Ms Crowther carried out voluntary desk-based work, which she said was good for her mental health. Her manager carried out periodic meetings with her but when Ms Crowther's sick pay expired in October 2018., she continued with the desk-based duties.
Ms Crowther's ophthalmologist said she was about 80 per cent recovered from the illness in March 2019. She formulated a phased plan in April 2019 to resume work and sent details to her manager.
But she only received a comprehensive response from the manager nearly a month later, despite there being a “clear need for urgency”, according to Judge Jeremy Lewis KC. And in June 2019, Ms Crowther accused the council of further delay and filed a grievance that it was breaching her contract because she could not earn a salary.
She said the delay had “badly damaged” her mental health and confidence. When offered a meeting by her manager, she said she did not feel well enough to go and the worker resigned later that month.
Her manager denied any “deliberate intention” to delay Ms Crowther's return to work and said she wanted to ensure it was safe for all involved. The judge said in the report that the case was “allowed to drift” and that the lack of urgency shown amounted to a “serious failure in management”.
The judgment report, released on Friday (February 17), concludes that the judge found the council had failed to make a payment in lieu of annual leave after Ms Crowther's employment ended. The council must pay £1,245.92 for that claim. She also won the case of wrongful dismissal and WNC must pay £7,664.52.
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) will pay out for the claim after it took on the responsibilities of Northamptonshire County Council (NCC) after it was dissolved in 2021. A claim of unfair dismissal also succeeded against WNC. Any payment will be decided at a hearing in April, unless the parties can agree between themselves before then.
West Northamptonshire Council refused to comment.
