A former police officer has been awarded more than £1.1 million in a discrimination case after her force ordered her to stop running a ‘therapeutic’ business on the side.
Katrina Hibbert, 50, was a safeguarding sergeant with Thames Valley Police when she set up a party business after an occupational health nurse advised that having other interests and hobbies could help her ‘manage the intensity’ of work and her fragile mental health.
But a tribunal heard she resigned from the force when it withdrew permission for her to run the business – for which she designed indoor and outdoor play tents – then launched a gross misconduct investigation, after a senior officer discovered she had posted ‘upbeat and happy’ Facebook messages relating to the business while off sick.
Justifying the withdrawal action, the force later informed her in a letter: ‘We are a public facing organisation and the public would expect our staff to be able to carry out their contracted role ahead of any business interest.’
But an employment judge found the decision to withdraw the permission for the side-hustle while she was absent from the Thames Valley force amounted to ‘discrimination arising from her disability’.
The Reading tribunal heard Ms Hibbert was a ‘dedicated and highly regarded’ officer with ‘exemplary’ service stretching back more than a decade when, in September 2015, she relinquished the acting inspector role because of ‘burnout, depression and anxiety’.
The panel was told she then went off for an extended period of sick leave with depression before becoming a safeguarding sergeant in Cherwell and West Oxfordshire Local Policing Area in 2017.
This ’emotionally intense’ role involved work with young people who were subject to child sexual exploitation and child drug exploitation and in 2018 her mental health ‘began to deteriorate’.
That May, it was heard she began experiencing PTSD symptoms relating to trauma she experienced in her past.
The tribunal heard it was the following September, after a consultation with occupational health, that Sgt Hibbert set up her small business, telling her superiors an outlet for her creativity would ‘benefit my mental wellbeing’.
Sgt Hibbert was signed off work again in May 2019 after learning a vulnerable young person she had been working with had died.
But within weeks, the panel heard permission for her business was reviewed after it was pointed out she had missed an occupational health appointment but posted ‘upbeat and happy’ social media posts about her other work.
When the officer did not return to work on June 10, permission was immediately withdrawn.
In January 2020, Ms Hibbert resigned from Thames Valley Police (TVP), stating she was ‘not mentally strong enough to battle through a gross misconduct’.
The misconduct proceedings later collapsed after it was found TVP had failed to follow the business interest appeal procedure.
She then sued for constructive dismissal and disability discrimination.
Employment Judge Emma Hawksworth said it was ‘entirely clear’ the reason for the withdrawal of permission was Ms Hibbert’s long-term sick leave.
‘(Ms Hibbert) was beside herself by the withdrawal of her business interest permission, which was the removal of a significant coping mechanism for her,’ she said.
‘The withdrawal exacerbated her anxiety, panic and depression symptoms.’
The judge said TVP’s refusal to reconsider its decision ‘made her feel hopeless’ and ruled the ‘discriminatory decision’ to withdraw the business interest permission was a ‘significant reason’ why she resigned.
She added: ‘That conclusion means that the dismissal itself was discriminatory.’
Ms Hibbert was awarded £1,168,561, which included cash for lost earnings and future financial losses.