The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has found that the Irish arm of supermarket giant Tesco unfairly dismissed a lung cancer victim.
Mary Adeniyi had worked with Tesco since 2004, but fell ill in October 2010 and three months later was diagnosed with lung cancer.
A supervisor with the retailer, Ms Adeniyi was on sick leave due to the cancer treatment, but told the hearing that she always intended to return to work and was shocked when she was dismissed.
Ms Adeniyi attended a welfare meeting with her then Tesco store manager in July 2011 and informed her of her illness and further treatments which required her to travel to the UK.
After receiving a letter from Tesco in March 2011, Ms Adeniyi telephoned the personnel manager and explained that she was too weak to attend meetings at that time.
Ms Adeniyi had provided an initial letter from her hospital, which she believed clearly set out her medical condition.
In July 2012, Tesco dismissed Ms Adeniyi by letter after claiming that she did not keep the firm up to date with medical certs.
Tesco believed that Ms Adeniyi had gone AWOL after being on sick leave for 18 months.
However, the EAT stated this it was satisfied that Ms Adeniyi satisfied her obligation under the company policy to keep the company informed of her health status.
The tribunal stated that Tesco’s poor in-house management of post received by Ms Adeniyi can’t place an extra burden on her to ensure it arrived on the desk of the appropriate person.
An Tesco official told the hearing in Dublin that it is the firm’s policy to maintain contact with employees absent for long periods and offer any support services which would help the employee to return to work.
Tesco claimed that Ms Adeniyi failed to respond or engage in any way.
However, Ms Adeniyi provided documentary proof showing that she provided an up-to-date medical cert to Tesco head office in May 2012 – two months before she was fired for failing to keep the retailer informed of her health status.
The Tribunal found that Tesco’s disciplinary procedures were flawed to the extent that Ms Adeniyi was prejudiced by them.
The EAT stated that Tesco’s main failing was that it did not afford Ms Adeniyi a right of appeal from their decision to terminate her employment and found that she unfairly dismissed awarding her €1,800.
