Madness is no excuse
Page 17
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IF THE BOSS does not know an employee is mentally ill, he cannot be expected to take it into account. A Hull industrial tribunal heard a case where a driver refused to take over a holiday relief run delivering feedstuffs and said that he would get a sick note to exempt him — at which point his employer, a pig producing firm, sacked him on the spot.
The Tribunal held that Mervyn Swift, of Anlaby, who was a general driver for J. R. Rawson and Sons Ltd, Cottingham, could under the terms of his employment reasonably be asked to undertake the work he was asked to do.
But what the employer did not know — and what caused Mr Swift to lose his case for unfair dismissal against Rawson's — was that Mr Swift was at that time suffering from a depressive illness.
But Mr Rawson never at any time mentioned his disability to his employer, so when the company dismissed him instantly for refusing to carry out a reasonable instruction, it was within its rights, said the Tribunal, and ruled the dismissal fair.