Tribunal award 2 years’ salary for discrimination and unfair dismissal

Bus driver handed £60,000 from ex-bosses who sacked him unfairly when he developed diabetes

Read the MailOnline story about our client David Hoggett and his victory against the London red bus company Abellio in a discrimination and unfair dismissal claim.

 

Our Alex Monaco represented David in his long struggle against disability discrimination and unfair dismissal, and we finally beat the Dutch corporate giant transport company in court.

Most of our cases settle out of court, but in this instance the company refused to play ball, probably trying to use their superior budget to force him to surrender.

The inside story:

As one of the UK’s few specialist employment law firms only representing employees, we were delighted to represent Mr Hoggett in this case. Initially, on receiving Mr Hoggett’s details we reviewed his case and very quickly came to the conclusion that he had been subjected to unlawful treatment by his employer Abellio London Ltd.

Mr Hoggett was employed as a bus driver and unfortunately was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes which is a very common condition. This illness is recognised as a disability under the Equality Act 2010. We felt that Mr Hoggett should have been dealt with sympathetically and given the opportunity to get his diabetic condition controlled through his doctors.

Unfortunately, his employer, a major transport company, took a different approach. Despite clear medical evidence confirming that Mr Hoggett would be able to return to work, they took the decision to dismiss him on the grounds of ill health capability. We advised Mr Hoggett that he had been unfairly dismissed and had also been subjected to unlawful disability discrimination.

We work on the basis of developing a close and personal working relationship with our clients. We believe that this is the best approach to give our clients confidence through very difficult times.

The impact of suddenly losing your employment and income cannot be overstated. This does not affect just our client but also his or her entire family and can be devastating. We don’t just deal with clients as clients, but as people who need both expert legal advice and representation but also support through a most difficult time in their lives.

Through working closely and personally with Mr Hogget we were able to represent Mr Hoggett at an Employment Tribunal over two days and to effectively persuade the Tribunal that Mr Hoggett had been unfairly dismissed and that he had also been subjected to unlawful disability discrimination.

Mr Hoggett was rightfully awarded around £60,000.00. You can read the full story in the papers here.

Next steps

As a specialist employment law firm, Monaco Solicitors only represent employees and we fight extremely hard for our clients. The law is there to protect employees but, unfortunately, some employers ignore these rights. If employers do ignore these rights and obligations we are there to help.

It costs nothing to find out if we could represent you, so if you have a potential claim for unfair dismissal or discrimination, get in touch:

• By this website link
• By phone on  020 7717 5259
• By email: communications@monacosolicitors.co.uk