The Appeal Court has ruled that a nurse, sacked for making a rude joke, was unfairly dismissed.
Laura Bowater was fired from her job as senior staff nurse at Central Middlesex Hospital after she made a comment while restraining a male patient who was suffering an epileptic fit. The man had to have his trousers and underwear removed to in order to have an injection into his buttocks, but as he was being restrained he flipped onto his back and kicked Ms Bowater forward so she was astride him. The nurse remarked to colleagues: “It’s been a few months since I’ve been in that position with a man underneath me”.
A complaint was not made about the remark until six weeks later, though it was accepted that the patient could not hear what she had said. She was sacked for gross misconduct and launched an unfair dismissal claim which was upheld at Watford Employment Tribunal. That decision was successfully challenged by North West Hospitals NHS Trust but at the Appeal Court, Lord Justice Burnton overturned that decision, ruling again that Ms Bowater had been unfairly dismissed although he said that she had contributed by 25% to her own dismissal.
The case will return to the original employment tribunal for payment to be decided.