Asda pays £7,100 to sacked epileptic worker

Prosecutions and Claims |
01.04.2006

An epileptic worker who claimed supermarket giant Asda sacked him for taking a seven-minute break to take his medicine has won £7,100 compensation. An industrial tribunal in Manchester upheld an unfair dismissal claim by Paul Turner on 3 March, ruling that his former employer had breached the Disability Discrimination Act.

Turner had worked nights for 10 years at Asda's Trafford Park store and warehouse. In May 2005, Asda sacked him after he took seven minutes to take epilepsy medication. He had suffered from epilepsy since childhood and Asda knew about his condition. The GMB general union, which took his case, said his normal practice was to go to a "place of safety" whenever he felt ill and needed to take his medication. In this case, managers accused him of going to a rest room to watch the European Cup Final, and suspended him for "theft of company time". As a result of the suspension, he suffered a seizure and had to go to hospital.

The GMB said Asda's disciplinary hearing and appeal hearing refused to take medical evidence presented by the union. Asda also lost a video that the union claims showed Turner's account of his absence to be accurate.

GMB Senior Organiser, Giovanna Holt, said that though Asda had first-class diversity policies on paper, and was well aware of Turner's condition, it "took absolutely no steps whatsoever" to consider the effects of his illness.