NHS executive who was fired after complaining her colleagues ‘kept breathing on her’ was unfairly dismissed, tribunal rules
- Gifty Poku accused her colleagues of making ‘distracting noises’ near her desk
- She was accused of ‘regularly’ blowing air back at members of staff
- Mrs Poku was deputy head of corporate accounts at Barts Health NHS Trust
- She is now in line for compensation after tribunal found wrongful dismissal
An NHS executive who was fired after complaining her colleagues kept ‘breathing on her’ was unfairly dismissed, a tribunal has found.
Gifty Poku was also accused of ‘regularly and repeatedly’ blowing air back at members of staff who she thought were exhaling heavily near her.
She claimed her colleagues were making ‘distracting noises’ near her desk before she was eventually sacked for alleged misconduct.
At the time of the incidents, Mrs Poku was employed as deputy head of corporate accounts at Barts Health NHS Trust, in East London.
Mrs Poku is now in line for compensation after the tribunal found she had been wrongly dismissed.
An employment tribunal held in Poplar, East London, heard that throughout her three years working for the trust, Mrs Poku would often complain about colleagues standing by her desk and talking.
At the time of the incidents, Mrs Poku was employed as deputy head of corporate accounts at Barts Health NHS Trust, in East London (pictured: St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, one of the hospitals managed by the trust)
On one occasion she got into an argument with an accountant after she accused them of making ‘distracting noises’.
Eventually, one frustrated member of staff, Tasneema Chowdhury, complained to senior managers that Mrs Poku had ‘mental health issues’.
Before she was dismissed by the NHS Trust, Mrs Poku was given her first written warning about the way she was behaving with other colleagues.
She was alleged to have ‘regularly and unreasonably’ accused people of breathing on her and in response ‘used her mouth to blow air toward them’.
The trust also investigated whether she had told members of staff they were ‘giving off negative energy’.
Mrs Poku took a ‘plea bargain’ to bring the investigation to a close and accepted a written warning.
The tribunal heard that a short while later, in November 2019, following another disciplinary investigation, Mrs Poku was dismissed for alleged misconduct relating to the way ‘she interacted with her colleagues’.
The second investigation alleged Mrs Poku called a team member a liar, failed to follow instructions and behaved inappropriately towards Miss Chowdhury.
Mrs Poku was also accused of telling a woman that she had never had any problems with her previous managers who were white, but she had a problem with her because she was black.
A disciplinary panel concluded that all the allegations against her were proved and decided she should be dismissed immediately.
At the tribunal, employment Judge Stephen Knight, examined the NHS Trust’s investigation and gave his own findings.
He said that although it was ‘unreasonable’ for Mrs Poku to accuse people of breathing on her it was not done with any ‘malice’.
Looking at the second investigation he concluded that it would have been ‘absurd’ for the Trust to suggest Mrs Poku, who herself is black, had a problem with black people.
Giving his conclusion, Employment Judge Knight, said that each of Mrs Poku’s acts of alleged misconduct were ‘minor’.
He added: ‘[The Trust] took no useful, meaningful, and concerted steps to improve the relationships between [Mrs Poku] and her colleagues between the time of the first ever complaints and the date of the her dismissal.’
He concluded that the Trust did not have reasonable grounds to believe Mrs Poku had committed misconduct and therefore ruled she was unfairly dismissed.
A remedy hearing will be held in due course.