A nurse who was repeatedly ignored by her colleague and deliberately excluded from a tea-round has been awarded PS41,000 as constructive dismissal.
Mrs Hamilton was a diabetes specialist for the Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust. She resigned from her position in January 2022 citing “cruel bullying behaviours” as well as poor management.
In September 2018, a patient collapsed in his home after experiencing severe hypos (low blood glucose).
Hamilton and Mr Nayeck were both dietitians in the same team. However, they had a tense working relationship. Nayeck asked her if she questioned his competence. She admitted that she did, saying the patient’s health could be in danger.
Mrs Jupp agreed with their line manager that Nayeck’s clinical assessment was correct. She suggested Nayeck address a problem in learning so it wouldn’t happen again. Jupp suggested Hamilton apologize to Nayeck about her tone.
The tribunal heard that Nayeck then became “noticeably dismissive of Hamilton”. He would not make tea for Hamilton, even if it was for another team member.
Hamilton claims that Nayeck rubbed Hamilton’s name out of a book he had lost, and then wrote his own on it. He stored it with his documents.
Both parties agreed in 2019 to communicate civilly. Hamilton claimed that she had tried to communicate in a more civil manner, but it was not reciprocated.
Nayeck, in July 2020, sent Jupp and another co-worker an email stating that Hamilton had bullied him for two years, citing numerous complaints. Later, he sent a second email with 10 more broad allegations against her.
The allegations were investigated and it was decided that he would work in a different unit certain days, to limit the time he spent with Hamilton. Hamilton said he was abusive to her personally, telling her “I don’t like you”, and that she was unhappy with the way the trust handled the situation.
Hamilton filed a formal complaint to the trust in June 2021. She claimed that the trust had failed to address the breakup of the relationship, that they had not investigated her book’s theft, and that they had tolerated abusive behavior. The trust partially upheld these claims.
She was declared unfit for work in August 2021 due to stress and resigned finally in January 2022.
She said in her resignation letter: “I am today officially resigning my post… due, to what I believe, is a breach by the trust because of a total breakdown in trust and confidence. Hence, consider myself constructively discharged.”
The situation that I was put in by the Trust has caused me significant anxiety and stress for which I had to seek ongoing professional help. The trust’s actions and management have caused this.
In her judgement, employment Judge Kathryn Ramsden stated that Hamilton was “a gifted nurse who loved her work”, upholding Hamilton’s claim for constructive unfair termination. The trust was ordered by the employment judge to pay Hamilton PS41,000
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