NatWest faces paying out more than £2million to a worker it made redundant two days after she had cancer surgery.
The bank unfairly dismissed Adeline Willis, 44, in a process that was ‘tainted with discrimination’, a tribunal has ruled.
The £160,000-a-year risk and compliance officer found out she had cancer eight months before she was laid off.
And only weeks after the diagnosis, her managers sought advice about her future from the human resources department in a recorded phone call.
The London tribunal said the contents of the phone call were clear evidence of discriminatory intent.
It rejected the financial giant’s claims that her job had become redundant.
Ms Willis, who had worked for the state-backed bank for more than six years, told the panel she had been left in physical and emotional turmoil by the loss of her job during her health ordeal.
Her lawyer Will Clayton said: ‘This has been a harrowing experience for my client who did not deserve the appalling treatment that she endured at the hands of one of this country’s largest and best resourced employers.
‘The next step is to ensure that Ms Willis is fully compensated for her losses and the discrimination that she has suffered.’ The case had a potential value in excess of £2million, he added.
NatWest did not comment. If the two sides are unable to agree on the level of damages, a further hearing will be held later this year.
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