Employer pays GBP3,453 compensation to woman who was sacked for calling in sick on Mondays

A hairdresser, Celine Thorley, was fired for calling in sick on Mondays but recently has got a payout of around GBP 3,453 as compensation, reported Metro. An employment tribunal has ruled that Thorley from Cardiff University has been unfairly dismissed by her boss, Christian Donnelly, who failed to follow a ‘fair process’. Christian Donnell, who is an owner of Acute Barbers in Cardiff University Students’ Union, had warned Celine Thorley at the end of her shift on a Friday "don’t let me down on Monday", as she was holding a Halloween house party that weekend, as per the media reports. 

However, the 25-year-old dropped a text in which she said that she has been bedridden because her stomach was "killing her". To which Donnelly replied that he would be sacking her after "four years of phoning in sick on Mondays because you’d had a good weekend". Due to this one text, Donnelly had to pay the former employee of Acute Barbers around GBP 3,453 after the judge discovered that she was genuinely ill with period pain. Employment Judge Roseanne Russell had ruled in favor of Thorley and said that she was having a ‘physical impairment’ from menorrhagia – heavy periods.

Woman fired for calling in sick on Mondays 

Donnelly said that she had more sick days than all of her colleagues combined, and they almost always followed weekends. Further, he shared that the 25 years old has been absent for 17 Mondays and Tuesdays in total. As per the Metro report, the conversation between the two took place on October 2021 where Thorley wrote: "Hey Chris I know you’re going to be mad at me but I can’t make it to work sorry I really didn’t think I was going to be this bad I’m not well at all I was a mess yesterday and I’ve woke up this morning and was sick straight away. I really thought I was going to be okay today… my stomach is killing me and I’m all shaky… I really can’t get out of bed Chris. I’m so sorry!. " To which, Donnelly replied: "Don’t come in and you’re gone." After which Thorley had warned him that she would take him to the tribunal. But Donnelly had not taken that seriously and wrote: "You’ve had all your warnings. Crack on with all that legal s**t." While keeping her case in front of the tribunal, Thorley shared that he was suffering from endometriosis, a condition that can cause crippling pelvic pain, and also visited a gynecologist but was not officially diagnosed, reported Metro.