Managers wrongly dismissed doctor with PTSD, tribunal rules

A trust breached its own internal illness policy when managers sacked a doctor who had PTSD and had been drunk at work, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Judges criticised the move as a “complete failure” by East and North Hertfordshire Trust when Vladimir Filipovich was dismissed in July 2019.

Dr Filipovich was summoned to a hearing following allegations he had been drunk at work, did not disclose a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder to his employer, and failed to take a recommended prescription of Citalopram.

In a decision published this month, the tribunal sharply criticised how the trust’s investigator handled the Citalopram claim, concluding he “did nothing to investigate the matter whatsoever”, and found ENHT had “appeared to simply take legal advice” on how to dismiss Dr Filipovich.

The tribunal also concluded ENHT “stopped following” its own illness policy, which aimed to get practitioners to return to work, and “abandoned” its requirement to obtain the latest occupational advice.

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Source: HSJ, 21 July 2023