The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Woman tells of cruel taunts
Tribunal: Dyslexic Nethybridge woman claims unfair dismissal
A young Nethybridge woman with dyslexia has told an employment tribunal she had to put up with being called “thick” and “stupid” while working at an up-market hotel in Aberdeenshire.
A 20-year-old receptionist with dyslexia claimed yesterday that she endured cruel taunts from a colleague while working at an upmarket hotel.
Rachel Knox, from Nethybridge, who worked at the MacDonald Pittodrie House Hotel , near Inverurie , between December 2012 and June 2013, told an employment tribunal in Inverness that because of her disability she was occasionally called “thick” and “stupid” before being eventually dismissed.
She is claiming unfair dismissal under the Disability Discrimination Act and said the hotel should have made reasonable adjustments to assist her.
Miss Knox, who was sacked on June 19 last year, said she made staff aware of her dyslexia during her job interview and that colleagues were made aware from the outset.
She told the hearing she had difficulty counting her balance sheets when transposing numbers to a computer spreadsheet.
Miss Knox said that when the duty managers who had initially helped her left last spring, a hotel accountant told her she had been making mistakes with the figures.
At a subsequent meeting on March 28 last year with the hotel’s general manager, she asked to bemoved to a different department and began working in the conference and banqueting suite for two or three shifts each week while continuing to work reception shifts when the hotel was understaffed.
Miss Knox said she encountered difficulties with Brian McDermott, a member of the hotel’s management team, who she claimed refused to provide her with help with the spreadsheets and on several occasions called her “thick” and “stupid”.
Miss Knox added: “He would just speak tomeas if I was a piece of dirt and he would use inappropriate language.
“That really hurt my feelings and it really did make me upset. Having dyslexia is not something I choose to have. It is something I was born with.”
Miss Knox said she complained to the generalmanager who told her that because Mr McDermott was the duty manager he should be listened to.
Solicitor Kevin Duffy, representing Monument Leisure which runs the luxury hotel, suggested to Miss Knox that her sacking had nothing to do with mistakes caused by dyslexia, but was down to her bad attitude, demeanour and performance. Miss Knox replied that this may have been caused because she was not given help and she had low self-esteem.