Woman fired from job for taking sick leaves on ‘Mondays’ wins Rs 3.4 lakh payout

A woman who was fired from her job for calling in sick on Mondays won a whopping 3453 pounds (Rs 3, 44,204) in compensation. Yes, you read that right!

The woman Celine Thorley, 25, worked for Christian Donnelly.

The incident happened in October 2021.

Before the end of her shift on a Friday, Christian had warned Celine as she often took sick leave on Mondays.

‘Don’t let me down on Monday’ Christian had warned Celine as she was holding a Halloween house party that weekend.

However, as suspected, Christian found Celine absent from work on Monday and was pissed off. However, she texted him saying she was sick and could not get out of bed.

Her text read, “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 in the 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!”

However, believing that she was faking her illness, Christian responded ‘not having this’ and fired her immediately.

“After four years of phoning in sick on Mondays because you’d had a good weekend, I can do what I like, trust me,” he told her.

When Celine warned she would take him to a tribunal, Christian responded by saying, “you’ve had all your warnings. Crack on with all that legal s**t.”

During the hearing, Christian told court Celine in her first year had more sick leave than her colleagues combined and the sick leaves were almost on Mondays, followed by weekends.

However, Celine claimed she suffers from endometriosis.

After hearing both sides, the employment judge accepted Celine suffered from ‘physical impairment’ as a result of heavy periods. The judge subsequently ordered Christian to pay Celine 3453 pounds as he did not follow the ‘fair process’ in firing her.

After the judgement, Christian accepted he should have gone through the correct process including written warnings.