Council officer got PTSD helping Grenfell victims wins £4.6 MILLION

• LBHF Council was ordered to pay compensation to Rachael Wright-Turner

A former council chief who suffered PTSD after working with the bereaved families of the Grenfell Tower fire has been awarded a record £4.6 million payout after suing her bosses.

The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham was ordered to pay compensation and damages to Rachael Wright-Turner for disability discrimination and harassment after she was sacked from her £125,000-a-year role.

The employment tribunal’s ruling – which found senior officers in the Labour-run authority had lied in evidence – is believed to be the highest-ever such award against a public body.

Last night, Ms Wright-Turner, 52, said while she recognised the sum was ‘substantial’, she had never wanted to go to a tribunal.

The six-year legal battle had destroyed her life, her family and her health, she added. 

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. My income has been taken away – we have been living literally on the breadline, taking donations from food banks and charities.’

Doctor’s £4.5m award eclipsed

A payout of £4.5 million to a hospital consultant who suffered trauma was until now the highest amount awarded at an employment tribunal.

Dr Eva Michalak, who worked as a consultant physician at Pontefract General Infirmary, won claims for sex and race discrimination and unfair dismissal against the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and three senior staff members after colleagues ran a four-year ‘get Eva campaign’ following her maternity leave. She said in 2010 she had suffered ‘years of psychological abuse’ before receiving the record award.

Army veterans have long struggled to receive payouts from government compensation schemes despite suffering with severe trauma from their time in warzones.

Dean Upson, who fought during in Iraq and did two tours of Afghanistan, said when he left the Army in June 2011, he was initially awarded just £3,000 for complex PTSD that was so severe it has left him suicidal and unable to work full-time.

He eventually received more than £160,000, but it took him four years of working with lawyers.

And Royal Marine Mark Ormrod, who lost both legs and an arm in a Taliban landmine blast, was offered £214,000 despite having to raise significantly more himself to afford prosthetics which are not available on the NHS.

Ms Wright-Turner was dismissed from her role as director of public service reform at Hammersmith and Fulham in 2018 after taking sickness leave for post-traumatic stress disorder.

She had developed PTSD while working at Kensington and Chelsea council as a ‘humanitarian assistance lead’ with those affected by the Grenfell blaze that killed 72 people. 

She said it left ‘a movie’ of the tragedy playing in her head.

Ms Wright-Turner then moved to Hammersmith and Fulham. 

She was signed off work after a meeting with superiors at a pub triggered her PTSD. She had a panic attack and was taken to hospital.

Following this incident on May 2, 2018, senior council officers made the untrue claim to colleagues that she had been drunk before being taken to A&E, the tribunal heard.

Separately, Ms Wright-Turner had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the tribunal heard.

After learning of the diagnosis, the council’s former chief executive Kim Smith said Ms Wright-Turner’s brain ‘doesn’t work like other people’s’. 

Ms Smith also asked whether Ms Wright-Turner had disclosed her ADHD when she was recruited.

She was dismissed while on sick leave without a chance to discuss or challenge the decision. 

The tribunal ruled Ms Smith and the council’s then HR director lied to the tribunal that Ms Wright-Turner was informed earlier on the day she was admitted to hospital that her probation was to be extended.

It was concluded Ms Smith took the decision a day later when it was understood she would take leave for her mental health. 

Ms Smith and HR director Mark Grimley also conspired to doctor her dismissal letter so it would appear to have been signed before she launched a grievance against the council, it was concluded.

No mention was made of her PTSD or ADHD in her termination letter ‘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.

Ms Wright-Turner said: ‘I don’t think they understood how closely I’d been working with the families in the aftermath of Grenfell. They treated my PTSD as if I was acting like some sort of drama queen.’

She was aware of the cost of her award to council taxpayers but said she had no choice but to try to clear her name.

She said: ‘From the public’s point of view this award will seem a huge amount, but I would give every penny of this award back for it not to have happened – I thought I would just leave with a redundancy payment, but they wanted me to leave without a penny.

The £4.6 million award equates to £25 per Hammersmith and Fulham resident. If the payment is not made by the end of this month, it will accrue 8 per cent interest per year, which equates to £302,500.

Peter Daly, from law firm Doyle Clayton who represented Ms Wright-Turner, said the award reflected the ‘severe injury’ she suffered due to Hammersmith and Fulham’s ‘unlawful conduct’.

Hammersmith and Fulham said it was ‘very sorry’ for the ordeal Ms Wright-Turner suffered, but it will appeal the decision as it has ‘always considered’ her claim to be ‘vastly excessive, disputed and highly unprecedented’.

According to figures from ITV News, £150million was approved as a global settlement of compensation claims made by people affected by the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.

Lawyers representing bereaved relatives said a settlement was reached following around 900 cases.

Cladding giant Arconic said it was among the firms which was involved in the High Court case and had agreed to the settlement.

Further research from the Guardian also revealed how two-thirds of the adults who survived or were affected by the Grenfell fire have shown signs that they require treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The report also revealed how there was ‘significant risk’ of secondary trauma.