Electrician, 37, ‘told to finish his shift when he had heart attack at work’ says he still suffers from bad anxiety despite winning £12,000 payout
- Rob Craggs was asked to continue working after the incident, a tribunal was told
- The electrician was working for Tyne and Wear-based BMS Electrical Services
- His employers failed to contact him for six months while he was off recovering
- The father was awarded £12,095 in compensation for disability discrimination
An electrician who said he was told to finish his shift when he had a heart attack at work says he still suffers from bad anxiety, despite winning a £12,000 payout.
Rob Craggs received the compensation after his employers failed to contact him for six months while he was off work recovering.
The father was working on site for Tyne and Wear-based BMS Electrical Services when he had a heart attack.
He asked to go to hospital but his boss, Ian Derbyshire, ‘indicated he would prefer it if he finished his shift first’, a tribunal was told.
Mr Craggs, 37, lives with his wife and children in Sunderland and has now started his own business as a fencer and handyman.
He said: ‘Every job I went on all I thought about was promoting the company, I did my best in whatever I did for them and always tried to go above and beyond what was expected of me.
Rob Craggs was working on site for Tyne and Wear-based BMS Electrical Services when he had a heart attack
Mr Craggs, 37, lives with his wife, pictured, and children in Sunderland and has now started his own business as a fencer and handyman
‘This was the first ever time they’d had anyone on long term sick leave so it was a learning curve for them and hopefully they will have learnt from their mistakes.
‘They failed me but hopefully this means no one else will be treated the same way.
‘As far as I was concerned this was finished with and I never expected it to become public, it happened back in 2017 and the remedy hearing for the tribunal was in November last year.
‘I found the employment tribunal horrendous, I got dragged through the hedge and was on the witness stand for three days.
‘I didn’t want to go to a court hearing but they got rid of me and forced me into that position, I am not the sort of person to make trouble for any employer.
‘I had a heart attack and the whole experience has left me with very bad anxiety, but down to the last day of the hearing the company were still saying I wasn’t ill.
‘I don’t wish the firm any ill will at all, they paid me what I was awarded and I’d like to put the whole thing behind me.’
Rob Craggs suffered a heart attack when working on a site near Sunderland for BMS Electrical Services, but was told by his boss to continue his shift (file photo)
Boss Mr Derbyshire told the hearing he did not remember saying that he’d prefer Mr Craggs finished his shift.
A few hours later another director at the company, William Storey, visited the hospital and gave Mr Craggs money.
The tribunal heard Mr Craggs believed it was ‘hush money’ because the company had tried to stop him going to hospital straight away.
Mr Storey strongly denied this and during Mr Craggs’ evidence stood up and and called his former employee a ‘lying b******’.
Following the heart attack, Mr Craggs developed depression and anxiety. He was unable to walk down the street without stopping frequently and was scared of driving alone in case he had another heart attack.
The electrician has been awarded £12,095 in compensation for disability discrimination after his employers failed to contact him for six months while he was recovering (file photo)
He was off work for eight months but the tribunal heard that during his recovery Mr Craggs’ bosses never tried to contact him apart from the initial visit.
He eventually resigned after getting in an argument where he was told GPs give out sick notes for people to sit and ‘play games on the computer’.
At the hearing, the panel said his employers ‘were under a duty of care as his employer to look after his welfare’.
Mr Craggs’ complaint of breach of working time regulations and disability discrimination on the basis of unfavourable treatment were well-founded but his claim of unfair dismissal was dismissed.
At a remedy hearing, Mr Craggs was awarded £12,095 in compensation for disability discrimination.