EX-DWP worker wins £18k discrimination payout

RAPPED: DWP has apologised

THE Department for Work and Pensions must pay £18,000 to a former employee after it lost a disability discrimination case.

The DWP was found to have failed to support a woman who suffered mental health problems that pushed her close to suicide. A “Mrs S Raj” brought the case after working part-time with the DWP for more than 30 years.

She was part of a fraud probe team in Chatham, Kent, but said she suffered trauma at the hands of her former line manager and requested a move in 2015.

Mrs Raj’s stress, anxiety and depression meant the DWP had a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments to help her continue working. She asked for a role in a different office until an opening under another manager in the same office came up. But bosses refused to let her work part-time in the temporary job.

Instead, a third option was forced upon her, and she was then signed off sick when her mental health deteriorated. A satisfactory role was finally found in 2018 and

Mrs Raj retired with ill health last March. London South Employment Tribunal found the DWP failed to help her continue to work.

Employment Judge Hyamsparish said: “A duty to make reasonable adjustments had arisen [and] been breached.”

A spokesman for the DWP said: “We apologise to Mrs Raj for the distress caused.”

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