Sacked Cancer Sufferer was Unfairly Dismissed

Sacked Cancer Sufferer was Unfairly Dismissed, Michael Ready claimed unfair dismissal, discrimination under the Disability Act and breach of contract from William and Tracey McManus, the husband-and-wife team who run Washington, Durham-based Angel Air North East Ltd.

Michael Ready was recruited as a 17-year-old apprentice air conditioning and refrigeration engineer by Durham based Angel Air North East Limited in May 2008 and studied one day a week for a level 2 NVQ at Northumberland College.

In late 2009 he started suffering from coughing fits, weight loss, night sweats and tiredness and, in March 2010, discovered a lump in his neck. He was referred to a specialist and warned that his condition could be serious.

On 6 April Ready was allegedly called to a meeting by William McManus, a Director of Angel Air, where he was issued with a second written warning and dismissed. The first written warning was issued in January 2010 after Ready inserted insulation into an air conditioning unit that subsequently dropped out.

In both instances, Ready attested that he was not invited to a formal meeting and was given no right to appeal. The McManus’ denied the claim, however, saying that they sent him letters inviting him to formal meetings and informing of his appeal rights but they did not arrive.

But two days after being sacked, Ready was told by a consultant that he was suffering from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Although he emailed his former bosses to inform them of the news and explain why his work may have suffered, he claimed that they refused to allow him to complete his apprenticeship, even though he had only a few months remaining.

The McManus’ blamed Ready’s dismissal on a “continued inability to concentrate and focus”, which they claimed was unrelated to his cancer symptoms.

But Ready said that he had no doubt that his sacking was because of his “disability of Hodgkin’s Lymphona cancer”. He had been suffering from symptoms for six months prior to his dismissal and his employer “were aware, or ought reasonably to have been aware, that my medical condition was sufficiently serious to constitute a disability”, he said.

“I believe the company took the opportunity to dismiss me, unfairly, before I was formally diagnosed with cancer in an attempt to avoid having to deal with me as a disabled employee,” Ready added.

But the McManus’ barrister Seamus Sweeney told the judging panel that the couple could not have known about Michael’s illness at the time of his dismissal.

The Newcastle employment tribunal ruled the apprentice was unfairly dismissed but rejected the allegation of disability discrimination. In a judgment, the tribunal panel said: “The claimant was an apprentice: any reasonable employer dealing with any employee, but particularly so when dealing with an apprentice, would ensure that, if dismissal was being considered for lack of capability, the employee knew the seriousness of his position and was given the opportunity to improve performance over a particular timescale with particular targets. The respondents failed to observe this standard of any reasonable employer.”

The panel also found that moving “directly from imposing a second written warning to dismissal was not the action of any reasonable employer, particularly an employer dealing with an apprentice”.

Michael Ready was awarded £7,295 compensation from Angel Air North East Limited.

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