Woman terrified of catching Covid-19 at work and giving it to her husband with cancer wins unfair dismissal case
Published date | 05 April 2022 |
Publication title | WalesOnline (Wales) |
The tribunal heard Mrs Regnante worked as an administrator for Essex Care Limited which provided care and equipment to people in their homes. Even though the company was providing a front line service, Mrs Regnante’s role in administration could largely be done from home, the employment tribunal heard.
When the pandemic first hit in March 2020, Mrs Regnante was ‘alarmed’ by the risk to her husband Guiseppe Regnante who was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2018. As Mr Regnante had had his stomach and spleen removed, he had a weakened immune system, the tribunal heard.
During the first COVID outbreak, Mrs Regnante had ‘heightened anxiety’ and so lived in a separate part of her home to her husband. Mr Regnante did not leave home at all and Mrs Regnante went out as little as possible, getting groceries from a Tesco nearby and washing everything and showering after each trip.
Mrs Regnante’s bosses initially allowed her to work from home and there was ‘plenty’ of work she could usefully do, the tribunal heard. She said she could do 85 per cent of her usual role from home and the tribunal ruled she could do the ‘vast majority’ of tasks.
In April 2020, Mrs Regnante was called in to do an evening shift for the call centre at the office where she was based in Worthing, West Sussex. After the shift she sent her boss Lawrence King an email saying she was taken aback by the request.
She said: “I arrived in at the office at 6pm, to find that I was covering for Helen, who is now in self-isolation due to constant coughing on Saturday and that her son is in the COVID-19 Ward at Worthing Hospital I don’t know what you were thinking asking me to come to the office with this whole situation going on.
“I am now terrified that I will bring/already have brought it into the house. I cannot come to the office again to do Call Centre shifts. I need to protect Giuseppe.”
Mrs Regnante was then told she could...
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