A senior boatswain at a ferry company has been awarded nearly £50,000 after bosses refused to let him work on land. Sean Donnelly said working at sea left him 'in a lot of pain' because the ship's vibrations aggravated his arthritis.
The senior deckhand repeatedly asked to be transferred to work on shore but was told the move was 'too difficult due to payroll and administration'. Mr Donnelly wanted to work for three more years until he retired but was left without pay and seeking benefits, despite making it clear he was fit to work ashore.
Tribunal ruling
At an employment tribunal held in Ashford, Kent, Mr Donnelly won his case of unfair dismissal and a failure to make reasonable adjustment, which is a type of disability discrimination. He was awarded a £47,089 payout.
Mr Donnelly started working at DFDS in their Guernsey branch in October 2007, and he had become an Assistant Bosun. He was in charge of loading the deck, mooring stations and anchoring operations, working two weeks on and two weeks off with a night and day shift pattern, living on board when at sea.
Health issues and requests
In September 2022, he was diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the spine, and he notified the ferry company the next day. Mr Donnelly went on sick leave but rejoined the boat in January 2023, having passed the medical examination to be able to rejoin. He had a phased return, but after eight days, he had to leave because he was in too much pain.
One of the Chief Officers told Matt Scott, the Crewing Manager: 'As I say, he is obviously in a lot of pain physically and I have no doubt he is suffering mentally. I would suggest that at the moment [Mr Donnelly] is a long way off being capable of doing his job. Perhaps with more time he may be able to return to work but that is a decision for someone better qualified than me.'
He said that Mr Donnelly was only planning to continue working for another three years until he retired but that he was keen to continue until this point. Mr Scott said that he would make enquiries into other roles Mr Donnelly could do and said there was a possibility of computer-based work in the shore-side role. But he added that they had had a number of staff from ship go to operations and that everyone making that transition has to pass a screening program.
Impact and outcome
In March 2023 Mr Donnelly discovered he had exhausted his sick pay, despite not being notified. He said that getting treatment for his arthritis was 'financially crippling' and he had to rely on benefits. After speaking to a specialist, it was made clear to Mr Donnelly that he should enquire about jobs on land because the 'vibrations' on the ships were making his arthritis worse. He inquired, but he was told that it was 'too difficult' because it was the sister company DFDS A/S who dealt with employees on land.
Mr Donnelly had a meeting with Lisa Abbott, Head of Marine HR, and told her that he was not hopeful he would be able to return to sea and so would be looking to be deployed to a job on shore if there was any availability. He was told that there were no available vacancies on shore because they had recently filled them with seasonal staff.
In March 2024, Mr Donnelly gave a list of reasonable adjustments and said that they could agree to these so he could work at sea, or he could be assigned to a position on land that didn't require heavy lifting. He said that if the company did not agree to any of these, then it would effectively be terminating his employment. The ferry company said that it was trying to get him back to sea but did not agree to his reasonable adjustments.
Employment Judge Anna Corrigan said that they had unfairly constructively dismissed Mr Donnelly. She said: 'We agree with [him] that he resigned in part because of [DFDS'] failure to make the reasonable adjustments. We also consider that it was [DFDS'] failure to respond and/or ignoring his multiple requests to consider shore-side work.'
Judge Corrigan added that some adjustments should have been made by DFDS to allow him to return to work. She said: 'It was reasonable to expect [DFDS] to take steps from February 2023 to facilitate a temporary secondment or redeployment into the Operations Coordinator role on shore-side following the steer from the ship's line management. This would have involved supporting [Mr Donnelly] in passing the screening programme as soon as he was fit enough to work. We do not accept that the two companies are so separate that [DFDS] had no influence over a transfer or redeployment.'
