Grenfell council boss wins £4.6m payout after working with victims caused stress
A FORMER council boss has won a £4.6million payout after suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) working with bereaved families in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire.
Rachael Wright-turner, 52, developed the condition while working as a “humanitarian assistance lead” for Kensington and Chelsea council with those impacted by the tragedy in which 72 people died.
She then moved to the neighbouring Hammersmith and Fulham council to take up a £125,000-a-year role as director of public service reform, but was sacked in 2018 while on sick leave.
The Labour-run authority has been ordered to pay £4.6 million – equal to £25 for every resident of the west London borough – after an employment tribunal ruled she had suffered disability discrimination and harassment.
Ms Wright-turner was signed off work after a meeting with senior staff in May 2018 at a pub triggered her PTSD, as the Grenfell inferno had left “a movie” playing in her head, the tribunal heard. She had a panic attack and was taken to hospital but senior council officers made the untrue claim to colleagues that she was drunk before being taken to A&E.
She had separately been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), after which the council’s former chief executive, Kim Smith, questioned if she had disclosed this when she was recruited, the tribunal was told.
She was dismissed while on sick leave and the letter informing her of this did not mention PTSD or ADHD “to avoid any inference that this decision was in any way connected with the claimant’s mental health or related sickness absence”, the tribunal panel said.
The panel said Ms Smith and the council’s former HR director had falsely told them Ms Wright-turner was handed an extended probation period on the morning she went to hospital, when in fact it was taken a day later when it emerged she was taking sick leave.
Ms Wright-turner told the Mail on Sunday: “This case has cost us everything. Before this started, I was married with two children in private school ... now my marriage has collapsed, I’m fighting to stop my house from being repossessed and my children have been left devastated after being forced to leave their schools.”
A Hammersmith and Fulham council spokesman said: “We are very sorry for the ordeal suffered by Ms Wrightturner, who joined Hammersmith and Fulham council in the aftermath of the Grenfell tragedy in 2017.
“However, we have always considered Ms Wright-turner’s claim for compensation to be vastly excessive, disputed and highly unprecedented.
“We are grateful to the panel for dismissing many exceptional claims her lawyers made. We still believe this award is excessive and will look to appeal.”