Cancer-stricken police intelligence worker who was sacked for refusing to commute to a different office is awarded £58,000 after five-year legal battle

• Tyra Stoodley-Dowty, 54, battled bowel cancer while employed at Surrey Police
• Bosses chose to relocate her to an office further away, despite health concerns

A police intelligence worker with cancer has won almost £60,000 after her force sacked her when she refused to commute to a different office over fears it would destroy her health further.

Tyra Stoodley-Dowty, 54, was told she would have to travel further for work after a restructure at Surrey Police, an employment tribunal heard.

Travelling and sitting for long periods caused the intelligence support officer to suffer from abdominal discomfort, soreness to the skin, vomiting, and stress.

But Surrey Police bosses used an AA route planner and told Ms Stoodley-Dowty the new journey would only take 30 minutes however she insisted it would take up to an hour.

Ms Stoodley-Dowty, whose existing journey only took 20 minutes, had undergone treatment for bowel cancer.

Ms Stoodley-Dowty was working as an Intelligence Support Worker at Surrey Police headquarters – Mount Browne in Guildford. Despite having had surgery for bowel cancer, bosses insisted she switch offices

At the time she was taking ‘daily measures’ – such as getting up at 5am – to make work easier in the aftermath of the illness, the employment tribunal heard.

Despite the force’s occupational health department stating that allowing Ms Stoodley-Dowty to work closer to home would avoid ‘exacerbating or triggering’ her health issues – the opportunity to do so was denied by bosses.

Ms Stoodley-Dowty ended up losing her job.

Now, after a five year legal battle, she has been awarded £58,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal – something she described as a ‘hollow victory’.

The tribunal in Reading, Berks, heard Ms Stoodley-Dowty started working for Surrey Police in 2009.

In June 2015, she was diagnosed with bowel cancer and had to undergo chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment before returning to work some seven months later.

Upon her return, Ms Stoodley-Dowty was working as an Intelligence Support Worker at Surrey Police headquarters – Mount Browne in Guildford.

Two months later, she had to undergo further treatment for cancer which resulted in her having a permanent stoma and colostomy bag. She returned to work in August 2016.

The tribunal heard due to Ms Stoodley-Dowty health complications, she takes ‘daily measures’ to reduce the impact of surgery on her day to day life.

While based in Mount Browne, the Intelligence Support Worker would wake up at 5am enabling her to have two hours to prepare for work and on arriving home, the worker would often have to sleep for an ‘hour or so’.

In the summer of 2016, Ms Stoodley-Dowty was informed her role of Intelligence Support Officer was going to be made redundant in 2018 and she was asked by several managers whether she would apply for a new role called Organised Crime Group Mapping Co-ordinator.

Operational health recommended ‘supportive measures’ be taken into consideration, including letting Ms Stoodley-Dowty stay at Mount Browne. Instead, the force insisted she relocate seven miles to Woking

A year later, the police force worker – who was the only applicant for the new role – was told she could work the co-ordinator title as a secondment.

Still based at Mount Browne, Ms Stoodley-Dowty started the role and in early 2018, the first ‘formal group consultation’ for the new restructure took place which said the new role would be based at Woking, Surrey, seven miles away.

Ms Stoodley-Dowty agreed the role was ‘suitable’ but raised concerns to her manager about the potential impact on her health.

Employment Judge Emma Hawksworth said: ‘She explained that because of her long-term health condition, she needs quick access to her vehicle, and to be able to get home as quickly as possible.

‘She felt the extra journey time to Woking would be unreasonable, and did not agree that the journey from her home to Woking would only be 30 minutes as suggested by the respondent – using the AA route planner.’

Because of the traffic, Ms Stoodley-Dowty felt the journey would be 45 to 60 minutes long and the tribunal agreed it would likely take longer than 30 minutes on some occasions.

It was heard operational health highlighted how the intelligence officer was ‘fit for her substantive role’ but recommended some ‘supportive measures’ be taken into consideration, including staying at Mount Browne.

Eventually, bosses told her she would have to be in Woking for the majority of the week.

She turned down the new role and was made redundant.

Five years later Ms Stoodley-Dowty has successfully sued bosses for failing to make reasonable adjustments, unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.

Employment judge Emma Hawksworth said: ‘Mount Browne was a short 20 minute journey from home to desk for the [Ms Stoodley-Dowty].

‘For her to travel to Woking would mean an increase in the journey to at least 30 minutes and sometimes longer than that.

‘For [Ms Stoodley-Dowty] as a person with a disability, specifically as someone who had had surgery for bowel cancer, this was likely to cause two main problems.

‘First, longer car journeys were more difficult for [Ms Stoodley-Dowty] as they caused her to experience adverse symptoms including aggravated abdominal discomfort, soreness of the skin, acid reflux and the risk of nausea/vomiting.

‘Secondly, relocating to Woking would mean that it would take [Ms Stoodley-Dowty] longer to get home if she needed to return home unexpectedly to manage her condition.

‘Without adjustments to the role which would permit [Ms Stoodley-Dowty] to be physically located nearer to home for at least some of the week, [Ms Stoodley-Dowty] would be unable to accept the substantively Woking based OCGM role and this would put her at the disadvantage of being at risk of redundancy.’

Ms Stoodley-Dowty was awarded £58,750.74.

Judge Hawksworth added: ‘This has been very long running litigation.

‘[Her] success in relation to part of her claim is what she describes as a hollow victory.

‘This is because the award we ordered in our remedy judgement is considerably less than the total sum of her legal costs.’

The officer also sued for direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation fail – but these were dismissed

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