An employment tribunal has awarded a former HMRC employee £155,000 after managers waged a "sustained campaign" of discrimination against him, falsely accusing him of lying about his depression after he threatened legal action.
In a reserved judgment, employment judge Moore described the conduct by HMRC and an individual manager, who was also a respondent, as “one of the most shocking cases of systemic bullying and discrimination this tribunal has experienced”.
The tribunal heard that Richard Wickham had declared a history of depression following an inmate attack in his previous job as a prison officer during his application for the role of criminal investigator within the HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service in Cardiff in 2018.
This background wasn’t shared with Wickham’s line managers until his mental health deteriorated during the pandemic. An occupational health report in April 2021 concluded that his condition “undoubtedly” impacted his performance and recommended reducing his workload in his training assessment period (TAP).
Following receipt of the occupational health report, Wickham’s line manager, Lee Timmins, discussed work adjustments to help him manage his condition. During that meeting, Wickham also told Timmins that he was on anti-depressant medication and was awaiting an assessment for suspected PTSD.
But evidence seen by the tribunal showed that Wickham’s managers ignored these adjustments and blamed depression symptoms on underperformance. In June 2021, Wickham was signed off with depression for 30 days.
The following month, Judith Rockett, who was Wickham’s deciding officer and the second respondent in the proceedings, concluded that he had not met the required standards in his TAP report. The report didn’t mention his mental health or sick leave.
Wickham was told that he had failed his TAP in a Teams meeting without the right to be accompanied or pre-warning that the outcome would be the termination of his training.
Meeting notes seen by the tribunal showed Wickham told Rockett about his suicidal feelings and struggles to get out of bed and function every day.
“The arrangements for the meeting were crass and insensitive and did not consider how such news might impact on someone with the claimant’s disability,” said Moore in her judgment. “Nobody checked the claimant was going to be well enough to attend this meeting.”
‘Digging the dirt’
Following that meeting, Wickham told senior officer Alex Barnett that he intended to appeal the TAP failure decision and seek legal advice because he believed he was being discriminated against because of his mental health struggles.
The employment tribunal considered these statements a "protected act", which gives a person legal protection against victimisation under the Equality Act 2010.
This was followed by Rockett raising a grievance against Wickham where she accused him of lying about his depression disclosure, lacking integrity and being aggressive.
The tribunal found that Rockett, Timmins, Barnett and practical training officer Vanessa Barty “colluded” in a “digging the dirt” campaign seeking to undermine and incriminate Wickham after he indicated he might seek legal advice for disability discrimination.
“It is completely inexplicable as to how this was permitted to progress to a disciplinary by [HMRC],” said Moore in her reserved judgment.
“All of the following conduct was related to the claimant’s disability and amounted to disability related harassment.”
‘Devastating impact’
The tribunal unanimously concluded that HMRC and Rockett were “jointly and severally” liable for failure to make reasonable adjustments, disability-related harassment and victimisation against Wickham.
A fourth claim of direct disability discrimination didn’t succeed.
“One particularly aggravating and disturbing feature of this case was the 'digging the dirt' conduct by the managers after the protected act which was of a sustained and targeted nature as well as the repeated allegations that the claimant had been lying about his disability,” said Moore.
Wickham, who didn’t have legal representation, was awarded £155,077.34. This included £70,175 in past financial losses, a 10% Acas uplift for procedural failures and interest.
It also included £42,000 for injury to feelings, which is in the top band for these cases due to the severity of the discrimination’s “sustained campaign”.
“The claimant has proven the profound, long lasting and devastating impact on his injury to feelings arising from the discriminatory acts,” Moore said in her award reasoning. “He has lost his relationship and a career he hoped would be life long.”
In her remedy judgement, Moore also recommended deleting Wickham's written warning and sickness absences from his employment records and placing a formal note on his file flagging that he was subjected to unlawful disability discrimination and victimisation.
HMRC was also ordered to send the judgments to the HMRC’s permanent secretary to conduct a formal review of the findings and report back to Wickham and the tribunal.
An HMRC spokesperson said: “We take our duty of care as an employer very seriously. We are carefully reviewing the tribunal decision and considering its findings so that we can learn lessons and continue to support our employees effectively.”
HMRC didn't confirm if the managers identified in the judgment for their role in the discriminatory conduct are still working at the department.
CSW attempted to contact Rockett through HMRC.
CSW attempted to contact Wickham but could not trace him online.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for free on 116 123 – day or night, 365 days a year– or visit samaritans.org. Alternatively, you can call Mind's support line on 0300 102 1234, or NHS on 111