Former nurse loses Employment Tribunal unfair dismissal claim

MoJA former nurse has lost her claims against a health board after she claimed that she had been discriminated against and dismissed because she had blown the whistle at work.

Glenda Rodriguez-Noza, 42, made her claims in the Employment Tribunal against Abertawe Bro Morgannwg (ABM) University Health Board after she claimed that she had been dismissed because she had made protected disclosures at work and that she had been wrongfully dismissed from her job.

Ms Rodriguez-Noza’s claims originated after she claimed that she had made complaints about the way that patients were treated. Ms Rodriguez-Noza, a former nurse at ABM, then alleged that senior members of staff had bullied her until she felt that she could no longer work at the organisation, leading her to her resignation in 2009. She had previously made claims for disability discrimination, race discrimination, and constructive dismissal at earlier Tribunals, having apparently been involved in at least four hearings and appeals against ABM, including this case.

The claim came to the Employment Tribunal earlier this year, with an Employment Judge chairing the Employment Tribunal. Ms Rodriguez-Noza, giving evidence in her favour at the Tribunal, claimed that she had suffered from depression after leaving her work and that she had been forced out of her job because she had made the disclosures regarding the treatment of patients. ABM’s barrister put it to her that a number of the allegations that she had made were “wholly without merit” and that her claim should not succeed.

The Employment Tribunal ruled against Ms Rodriguez-Noza in her claims, stating that she had not been wrongfully dismissed, nor had she been dismissed because she had made the alleged protected disclosures.

ABM gave the following statement after the written judgment of the Employment Tribunal was received: “As well as this unsuccessful claim of disability discrimination, Ms Rodriguez-Noza has previously made accusations of racial discrimination, bullying and harassment and unfair dismissal at earlier tribunals. None of these were upheld, and the original tribunal found that she had not been constructively dismissed.”

There does not appear to have been any comment from Ms Rodriguez-Noza after the decision of the Tribunal.

Chris Hadrill, an employment solicitor at Redmans Solicitors, commented on the case: “Employers must take care to treat allegations of misconduct in the workplace carefully and to investigate any disclosures made by staff reasonably and promptly, as if they fail to do so there may be Employment Tribunal litigation in the offing. However, the Employment Tribunal found that Ms Rodriguez-Noza’s claims were not well-founded.”