Wednesday, 20th of February '19
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Sharma Jugroop - Attacked and beaten by 20 youths - sacked by London Underground
.Sharma Jugroop - Attacked and beaten by 20 youths - sacked by London Underground.
Sharma Jugroop was a CSS on the east end of the central line who was racially abused and physically attacked by a gang of up to 20 youths in April 2017.
He was hospitalised as a result.
Following a spell of sickness,London Underground terminated his employment on medical capability because they stated he was a danger to himself and others on the grounds he was open and honest with LU on how the attack was affecting his mental health.
He stated he felt returning to work too early and before he had properly and fully dealt with any anger issues could mean he would react negatively to difficult or angry customers.
The dismissing manager took this to mean he was unfit for working with members of the public and sacked him on the spot.
They did not offer him redeployment nor did they allow him to take his full entitlement of company sick pay.
The PMA sat on her hands and said nothing.
That was July 14 2017
Little more than 3 months after the attack that had put him in hospital.
The RMT have been fighting his case and the Employment Tribunal have handed down a reinstatement order to LUL that must be complied with within 21 days.
Sharma will receive all lost wages and his pension rights will be fully reinstated.
Whilst this is excellent news for Sharma and proves that being in the RMT is a necessity for all tube workers,the fact is that no less than 3 highly paid managers at London Underground have failed to properly discharge their responsibilities.
The dismissing and appeal manager both failed to satisfy the Tribunal that they were either competent or understood their own Attendance at Work procedure.
The appeal manager was criticised for inserting his own medical opinion in not referring Sharma back to LULs own occupational heath doctors.
The appeal manager was asked if he had any medical training and when he responded no the judge asked “why didn’t you simply refer the claimant back to your own medical experts, that’s what they’re for aren’t they?”
The Director of ER was asked to look into this mis-justice by the RMT Regional Organiser
She refused.
The Director of ER was again asked by the RMT Regional Organiser to remedy this injustice when the ET judgement of unfair dismissal in favour of Sharma was given in September.
She refused.
LU also refused to reinstate Sharma following the remedy hearing in January.
They cited the fact that Sharma had emailed a former colleague, thanked him for helping him out when he was attacked by the gang of youths and included the ET judgement in the email he sent.
LU tried to claim this amounted to a breach of trust.
The ET judge was not impressed when the LUL witness failed to particularise why sharing a publicly available document could amount to a breakdown in trust and confidence.
London Underground had at least 4 opportunities to right this wrong.
Those decisions have added to the payout Sharma will receive.
Mental Health is a buzzword with LUL management currently and they regularly state its time to change.
Time to change attitudes to those suffering fragile mental health in the short term would seem to be the starting point.
Thus giving confidence to those with longer term issues will be supported.
Being attacked by 20 youths is a traumatic and emotional experience with a strong possibility of associated mental health issues.
Mental Health is not a gimmick nor a corporate plaything. It is ironic LUL have conducted such a high profile workplace message to raise awareness.
Support mental health or don’t bother.
It beggars belief.
- Eamonn Lynch's blog
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