Woman, 47, wins £40,000 payout after firm gave her job to somebody else - while she was off sick with breast cancer

A woman has been handed a £40,000 payout from her bosses after her job was given to someone else whilst she was off sick with breast cancer. 

An employment tribunal heard that Andrea Wainwright,a former senior executive from Chelmsford in Essex,was left 'traumatised and broken' when she found out through Linkedin that a colleague had taken over her role. 

The 47 year old discovered the move by her employer,the banking services firm Cennox,  just three months after taking time off work to undergo chemotherapy. 

Once well enough to return,Ms Wainwright made an official complaint about her treatment and then resigned. 

Five years on and Ms Wainwright has won her claim for disability discrimination and unfair dismissal after successfully suing Cennox. 

Cennox UK headquarters in Camberley,Surrey. The tribunal heard she began working for the company as head of installations in January 2018. Ms Wainwright was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in August of that year and took sick leave and started chemotherapy four days later

Ms Wainwright said: 'I am very unhappy about the way I have been treated and set out some of the more serious matters.

'I was assured that my role was unchanged but when I returned to work I did not return to my existing role. I was demoted and several key responsibilities were taken away from me.'

The tribunal found that Ms Wainwright had been misled about the changes to her role and discriminated against.

Employment Judge Catrin Lewis said: 'We find that [Ms Wainwright] felt traumatised and broken as a result of discovering...that she had indeed been lied to,which was found to have been an act of discrimination.

'At that time [she] had been through cancer treatment and was recovering,although she was on continuing medication in respect of the chances of recurrence.

'She had been well enough to return to work and had been described as a fighter.'

Speaking after the tribunal Ms Wainwright said her 25 year old daughter has lifelong care needs and building a career whilst caring for her daughter had been hard.

'I will do anything to help somebody not go through this again,' she said. 'Fighting discrimination on the back of cancer is horrendously difficult.

'It has been very disruptive,I am having to start my career from scratch through no fault of my own.

'It has been a very turbulent few years.'

In addition to the £40,000 award for injury to feelings,Ms Wainwright is in line for compensation for loss of earnings which will be decided at a later date.