'I was desperate for help'

FORMER FIREFIGHTER CLAIMING UNFAIR DISMISSAL

- By GARETH LIGHTFOOT [e-mail] @TeessideLive

A FORMER firefighter has told an employment tribunal she lost trust and faith in most of the brigade and felt “I was on my own”.

Julie Wilkinson said she was “past myself” and “desperate” when on sick leave with stress and anxiety.

She said she was dealing with a grievance and appeal with her employer Cleveland Fire Authority, and learned the brigade had “broken into my house and searched it”.

Ms Wilkinson, 57, from Redcar, is claiming unfair dismissal and discrimination because of a disability, and victimisation because of previous claims, one of which was a successful claim for sexual harassment.

The authority says it acted reasonably in dismissing her in March 2024, when she had been on sick leave for just over two years.

She told Teesside Magistrates’ Court she was prevented rather than supported to return to work. She said in her evidence: “I lost a lot of trust and faith in the majority of the brigade through things that had happened to me.”

She said she was off sick in 2021 and had nine occupational health referrals in that year, but those stopped for nine months after she went on sick leave in February 2022 with stress and anxiety, telling the tribunal she did not feel safe.

She also submitted a grievance in February 2022, which was the subject of an appeal later in the year.

Ms Wilkinson told the tribunal: “When I booked sick, that was a cry for help because I couldn’t go to work any more under the conditions.”

She said she should have been referred to occupational health immediately under the authority’s procedures: “If that had happened I would have started receiving help immediately.”