Sacked doctor wins £4.5m compensation

A doctor who was sacked from her job at a Yorkshire hospital has been awarded a record £4.5m in compensation.

Dr Michalak, who was born in Poland, was dismissed from her job as an obstetrician at Pontefract General Infirmary in July 2008 and a tribunal earlier this year ruled that she had won her case for unfair dismissal and race and sex discrimination. Now the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and three of its senior staff members have been ordered to pay her £4,452,206.

The tribunal heard evidence that there had been a “plan” by some senior staff members at the trust as far back as 2003 when Dr Michalak was seven months pregnant. She began to receive complaints about her, alleging that she was bullying junior doctors. Staff members were heard to have repeatedly referred to the fact she came from Poland and also that she trained abroad, questioning her competence as a result. She was suspended from her job in 2006 before disciplinary proceedings began in May 2007 and she was finally dismissed in July 2008.

The NHS trust has unreservedly apologised to Dr Michalak, its chief executive Julia Squire, said that an independent review has been carried out and, while it found no evidence of widespread discrimination, it had helped the trust make further improvements to ensure that what happened in the past was never repeated.