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An ex-teacher fired for sick leave associated with long Covid has been awarded over £50,000 after she was unfairly dismissed and discriminated against. Ms J White accused Dorothy Stringer School in Loder Road, Brighton, of unfair dismissal, discrimination arising from disability and failure to make reasonable adjustments at an employment tribunal in December. The tribunal heard that Ms White, who had been employed as an English teacher at the school since May 2007, had a number of periods of absence from September 2010 until the termination of her employment in 2023.
Ms White was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease in around 2003, an autoimmune thyroid condition and a disability registered under the Equality Act 2010. She also tested positive for Covid in November 2020, leading to a diagnosis of long Covid in May 2021. Employment Judge Adam Leith, who chaired the hearing, wrote in the tribunal report: “It was common ground that the claimant (Ms White) had a disability within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 at all relevant times by reason of both Hashimoto’s and long Covid.
” Ms White claimed in her evidence that, on various occasions, she raised with Richard Baker, the deputy headteacher, and with Ms Poole, the head of year, that she was concerned about her health. Her evidence was that she was told by Mr Baker that “there is no such thing as rest in teaching”, which Mr Baker denied, and told by Ms Poole that she “just had to get on with it”. In an email to the school in March 2021, Ms White detailed the impact her symptoms were having on her.
She said: “I have been feeling permanently exhausted since I returned to work after Christmas but have tried to plough on, putting it down to the new way of working. “After returning to work after half term it has become clear that this is not the case because I continue to be permanently exhausted. “I was advised by the doctor in January to rest as much as possible, but it's proving very difficult to do that with my current teaching load.
READ MORE: Police officer caught on camera taking Halloween decoration from person's garden “I really don't want to go off sick, especially as the students are about to return to school, so I would like to discuss other options.” Ms White was signed off work from March 10, 2021, until March 23, 2021, due to “fatigue - hypothyroidism under treatment”. This was then extended until April 7 and resulted in a stage one warning, which Ms White appealed.
The former teacher was again signed off from May 19, 2021, to July 31, 2021, due to her long Covid symptoms. An occupational health report stated that she was “unfit for work” due to “exhaustion, fatigue, chest pain, cold extremities, brain fog causing poor memory recall, difficulty concentrating, lack of focus and reduced mental acuity”. In June 2021, Ms White’s stage one appeal hearing took place, which was not upheld by headteacher Matt Hillier.
Mr Hillier said: “You stated in your appeal that you were absent due to hypothyroidism/fatigue caused by Covid, however, you also went on to say that this is a pre-existing autoimmune condition that you have had for over 20 years and certain things will trigger the fatigue, you explained how this was affected during the menopause. “I have not been presented with any further evidence from your GP or a specialist that could support the theory that Covid was the sole and direct cause of this episode.” Ms White returned to work in December 2021 on a “phased basis”, following which she was given a stage two warning for the extended absence, totalling 87 working days.
Further periods of absence followed, including time off for long Covid, a concussion sustained at work and subsequent post-concussion syndrome in September 2022. Ms White was then faced with a stage three capability hearing following a total of 168 sick days since the start of her employment, leaving her under threat of dismissal. She was signed off until December 21, 2022, due to “long covid, post-concussion syndrome and stress”.
READ MORE: Man began sexually abusing girls when he was ten, court told On November 25, 2022, Ms White received a notice of dismissal from Mr Hillier. It read: “My reasons for reaching this decision are that since February 2021, you have not been able to teach a full teaching load for longer than four weeks without a period of sickness absence. “You have only managed to teach for more than two consecutive weeks on three occasions during this period.
“I heard from Mr Baker that the school has already made a number of adjustments to support your return, including a 26-week phased return. “Unfortunately, the evidence presented showed that none of these interventions have had the desired effect and enabled you to return fully to work.” Judge Leith said: “I have no difficulty in concluding that the dismissal was because of something arising in consequence of her disability, namely her covid-related sickness absence.
” Judge Leith concluded that Ms White’s dismissal was “discriminatory” and “unfair”. He stated that “the adjustments recommended in respect of her long covid had not been properly explored with her” and “the evidence at the time suggested she would be fit to return to work reasonably imminently from the post-concussion syndrome”. Judge Leith added in the hearing report: “The decision to dismiss her had a profound effect on her mental and emotional state, and she became distressed and suffered a relapse in long Covid symptoms.
“She viewed teaching as a vocation given her background (as the first person in her family to go to university, and coming from a single-parent family from an area of deprivation). “She lived close to the school, and her children were pupils there. She felt ashamed by her dismissal and felt, at times, unable to leave the house.
“The claimant’s trust in the school was so dramatically broken that she could no longer countenance another teaching post. “She found it hard to imagine teaching in another school, especially after the difficult experience she had had in the months preceding her dismissal.” However, Judge Leith found Ms White’s claim of failure to make reasonable adjustments against the school did not succeed.
Ms White was awarded a total of £42,118.50, including £15,000 for injury to feelings and £7,984.53 for compensation for discrimination.
She was also awarded an additional £11,912.28 for pension loss, as published in February. Dorothy Stringer was contacted for comment.
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