£10k payout for PC forced into early retirement over Parkinson’s
A POLICE officer who was forced to retire after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease has been handed a payout of £10,000.
Simon Wilkinson stepped down as a constable at Police Scotland 12 years after being diagnosed with the degenerative illness.
An employment tribunal in Edinburgh heard he had been working as a beat bobby but moved into the force’s intelligence team when his illness progressed.
Mr Wilkinson, who suffers from a ‘disabling tremor’, said he had hoped measures would be taken to allow him to comhe plete 30 years’ service. But a judge ruled that, despite a number of ‘modified duties’, discrimination by managers contributed to his early retirement after 26 years.
Summing up the case, employment judge Joseph d’Inverno wrote: ‘The Tribunal considered that the claimant had established, on the balance of probabilities, that the discrimination which it has found occurred did contribute to an acceleration of the claimant’s ill health retirement.’ Mr Wilkinson, who lives in Edinburgh, brought the employment tribunal, claiming he had been discriminated against between January 1, 2015, and June 25, 2018, when retired at the age of 58. However, the judge found he had only been discriminated against for half of that time as measures put in place in the first 18 months had ‘decelerated’ Mr Wilkinson’s retirement.
He had been employed as a PC since January 1992, working with the now defunct Lothian and Borders Police.
He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in August 2006 and transferred to the intelligence team in January 2012 before joining the newly amalgamated Police Scotland in the same role the following year.
The tribunal was told that measures such as improved IT facilities were put in place to aid Mr Wilkinson and his driving duties restricted.
However, Mr Wilkinson complained to then force boss Phil Gormley in April 2016 about problems with his department’s ‘procedural processes’.
He complained again in March 2017 about his workload, according to the court.
The tribunal heard that some work was taken away from Mr Wilkinson and given to other departments.
Mr Wilkinson, based in Edinburgh, complained again in August that year about the volume of emails being received in his department.
On December 11, 2017, Police Scotland received a letter from the Scottish Police Federation requesting Mr Wilkinson be considered for retirement on grounds of ill health.
Speaking through a solicitor Mr Wilkinson told the tribunal Police Scotland had failed to put in place and maintain ‘adjustments’ recommended by a medical assessment.
He also told the tribunal that
‘Discrimination occurred’
‘Injury to his feelings’
at that time he had experienced stress as a result of his line manager working from an office in Dundee and he had suffered ‘injury to feelings’ as a result.
Dr Andrew Gibson, representing Police Scotland, argued that modifications to Mr Wilkinson’s duties mean that he was ‘not at a substantial disadvantage in relation to a relevant matter in comparison with persons who were not disabled’.
Dr Gibson added that ‘at no time was the claimant [Mr Wilkinson] put under any performance management programme or put at risk of a warning of dismissal in relation to the performance of his workload’.
Judge D’Inverno wrote: ‘The Tribunal considered the supportive measures taken by the respondents in the period prior to December 2016 had contributed to decelerating the claimant’s ill health retirement.’