Civil servant blames HRT for snooping on neighbour

A CIVIL servant has blamed not taking her hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medicine for using a government database to look up her neighbour.

Louise Kelly, who was fired from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after almost 20 years, was twice caught misusing the system that holds private financial and health information.

The two “serious” security breaches were made because Ms Kelly had stopped taking her HRT medication, an employment tribunal heard.

In the first breach, she looked up her own address in September 2020 and just over a month later used the database to look up her neighbour’s address.

She said the misuse of the IT system, Searchlight, was a “genuine accident” as the lack of medication made her suffer from fatigue and low concentration.

After Ms Kelly was fired for gross misconduct in February 2021 she attempted to sue the DWP for disability discrimination and wrongful dismissal but has lost her case. The judge said any side effects she may have suffered did not “adversely” affect her work.

The tribunal heard that staff are told the “number one rule” is that the “powerful” database must never be misused. “Employees must not look up themselves, their friends, their family or celebrities,” new starters are told.

Newcastle Employment Tribunal heard Ms Kelly had started working in the department in 2003 and that she was “well regarded” by her bosses.

However, when she stopped taking her HRT medication in June 2020 after a five-year course, she said she suffered difficulty sleeping, poor concentration, joint pain, hot flushes and fatigue.

Dismissing Ms Kelly’s case, employment judge Jonathan Rodger said: “The system contains private financial and health information about almost every adult… the temptation to give way to prurient curiosity is bound to be strong.

“The risk of something worse is serious: employees are at risk of being coerced to obtain information at the behest of third parties with bad motives.”

Judge Rodger added that Ms Kelly may have suffered impairments as a result of the menopause but ruled they did not affect her work.