A shop employee who told her uncaring boss she was about to have a migraine and he responded by calling her “tough” has since gone on to win £15,000 after having an episode that left her paralyzed on the store floor.
The manager of Mary Doran didn’t think she had the crippling headaches and even charged her with lying about her symptoms since he assumed she was drunk.
When the Nisa employee requested to leave since she was having the beginnings of a migraine attack and could hardly see, the manager told her “tough” because he didn’t trust her.
Instead, he advised her to rest in the stock room until she felt better, but she ended up needing to sleep on the floor for two hours while her employer paid her no attention since she was so sick.
She was given a two-week sick note, but when she returned to work, she was informed that there were no shifts available because of her “health concerns,” and she was thus compelled to resign.
Following a ruling by an employment tribunal that Ms. Doran was subjected to disability discrimination by her management, Ms. Doran has now received £15,998.96.
She had been experiencing “intermittent chronic migraines” since 2003, according to the hearing, which was held in Manchester.
Her consulting neurologist testified before the tribunal that her health had progressively gotten worse. The progression of her symptoms led to Ms. Doran falling, including visual impairment or loss of vision for up to 20 minutes, numbness from the shoulders down, and weakness in both her arms and legs.
She can have trouble speaking, become clumsy, and bewildered during a migraine attack.
The results of an attack, according to Ms. Doran, “mirror a stroke,” and she frequently spends one or two days in bed with “severe changes to her food and sleeping routines.”
She claimed that both during and after a migraine attack, she feels weak, nauseous, extremely uncomfortable in her head, dizzy, and confused.
Ms. Doran claimed that despite taking medicine to manage her condition, she still has attacks about once per week.
She began working as a sales assistant at the Nisa Local store in Dukinfield, Greater Manchester, in November 2020. Only Mr. Maher was listed as her manager in the tribunal filings.
The tribunal was informed that Ms. Doran had two migraine attacks while at work in February 2021, necessitating time off.
Mr. Maher informed her that he was “disapproving of her absence” and that they would need to talk about her condition when she returned to work.
Ms. Doran claimed that she started to feel as though her manager was treating her differently. She claimed that he grew irritated with her and didn’t seem to take her illness seriously, accusing her once of having a hangover when she was actually having a migraine episode.
Ms. Doran experienced yet another migraine attack at work in April 2021. She immediately informed Mr. Maher that she was beginning to feel a “aura”—which was a precursor to these attacks—and requested to be returned home.
But the tribunal heard that he gave her a “rough talk” and forbade her from quitting her job.
Ms. Doran continued, but she soon started to experience visual disturbances and was unable to see clearly enough to provide customer service.
Mr. Maher then ordered her to the stock room and instructed her to use a foot stool there until she felt better. Her handbag was used to support her head as she lay on the chilly concrete floor after losing her equilibrium.
She was left in that position for two hours before a friend named Sarah Barber was summoned to take her home, despite the fact that her manager could see the stock room on CCTV.
Ms. Barber discovered Ms. Doran to be “unable to speak and to some extent paralyzed which hindered her moving comfortably.”
Two days later, Mr. Maher texted Ms. Doran to cover a shift but didn’t inquire as to how she was feeling. She next saw her doctor, who gave her a two-week leave of absence.
When that was over, she informed Mr. Maher that she was good to go back to work as long as she could go home if she had a migraine episode. No hours available Mary, he texted back in response.
With all of her present health concerns, he advised her to resign from her position. He continued, “Your degree of sickness is really high, and the unpredictability of your health and safety is concerning for you and myself, I won’t be able to guarantee you hours when your sick note is up.”
The tribunal was informed that despite Ms. Doran still being employed, Mr. Maher fired three existing employees and hired three new ones.
Before bringing charges of disability discrimination before an employment tribunal, she resigned in July 2021.
She described how Mr. Maher’s handling of her condition had transformed her from a person who was confident to one who was “untrusting and frightened” because she feared she may once again be “left on the floor paralyzed and unable to help myself.”
By preventing Ms. Doran from leaving for home during a migraine attack and from returning to work, Mr. Maher discriminated against her, according to employment judge Paul Holmes.
He stated: “Mr. Maher clearly failed to comply with that responsibility [to make reasonable accommodations for her impairment] by requiring her to remain at work (which, given that she could not do any job, was fairly meaningless).”
“It was obviously due to anything arising in consequence of her impairment” to stop offering her shifts and refuse to let her resume working.