Nurse pushes for £25k compensation after unfair dismissal
Posted 29 August 2023 - 11:29
Tribunal rules that research nurse Clare Jackson’s down-banding amounted to unfair dismissal; a further tribunal will decide whether she should receive an enhanced redundancy payment
A research nurse could be awarded £25,000 in compensation after it was ruled she was unfairly dismissed.
Clare Jackson had been working as a band 6 senior haematology research nurse at the Royal Stoke University Hospital for five years, but was down-banded as part of a restructure.
Nurse objected to down-banding
In 2018 the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, which manages the hospital, undertook a restructure involving more than 20 nurses in a bid to save £600,000.
This meant there would be a loss of specialist research nurses and instead a single team of ‘generic’ nurses would cover all disease specialties. There would be fewer band 6 posts and existing staff would be invited to apply for them, Clare Jackson employment tribunal papers.
Ms Jackson missed out on a band 6 post during the restructure and was down-banded to band 5. She refused to agree to the change, which her legal representative said would have resulted in an 18% pay drop.
Push for redundancy pay
Ms Jackson subsequently took the trust to an employment tribunal as she felt the HR team should have recognised that as her band 6 role no longer existed, and because she had not been selected for a new band 6 role, she had effectively been made redundant and was entitled to redundancy pay.
Ms Jackson told the trust that if it did not make her redundant, she would consider herself to have been unfairly and constructively dismissed.
Further tribunal will consider ‘Hogg dismissal’ plea
The tribunal found Ms Jackson had been unfairly dismissed and should have received statutory redundancy pay. The trust was also found to have failed to offer Ms Jackson a trial period in her band 5 role to help her decide if it was a suitable alternative.
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A further employment tribunal will now be held to consider if she should be awarded an enhanced redundancy payment of £25,000. It will look at whether she was subject to a ‘Hogg dismissal’, where an employee is unfairly dismissed under their original contract even though they continue working under different terms and conditions.
NHS trust offers ‘sincere apologies to Ms Jackson’
Judge Barry Clarke said in the ruling that if Ms Jackson was subject to a Hogg dismissal, she would be entitled to the enhanced sum from the trust.
A spokesperson for the hospital said: ‘We fully accept the findings of the employment appeal tribunal and would like to offer our sincere apologies to Ms Jackson.’
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