Payout for Telford nurse after unfair dismissal case
A nurse is set to net a "five-figure" compensation fee after an employment tribunal judge ruled she had been unfairly dismissed by a county military charity.
Delia Robinson, from St Georges in Telford, has spoken for the first time of her delight and relief after it was ruled bosses at Newport-based Combat Stress were wrong to sack her in 2012 after a period of suspension on full pay. She has continued to work as a nurse since her dismissal.
Ms Robinson had worked for the charity, which helps veteran military service personnel deal with mental disorders, for six years as a mental health nurse. Bosses of the charity said Ms Robinson had made sexual references in the company of ex-soldiers and carried out "inappropriate touching".
She was also accused of removing her underwear during one alleged incident.
But tribunal judge Miss Merry Cocks, sitting at Birmingham Employment Tribunal, ruled she had been unfairly dismissed by the charity.
The charity also referred Ms Robinson to the Nursing and Midwifery Council shortly after her dismissal, which carried out an independent investigation into her fitness to practise. It ruled last month that she had no case to answer, and Ms Robinson will now be free to continue working as a nurse.
After the hearing, Ms Robinson said the compensation figure had almost been finalised and confirmed it would be a five-figure fee. She added: "I will always be proud of the fact that during my employment with the company, I helped some 400-plus ex-soldiers to regain their confidence and to be able to stand on their own feet.
"It has been a traumatic end to my employment with Combat Stress, but I am relieved this is over. The tribunal concluded that I was unfairly dismissed by Combat Stress and that I should be paid compensation by the company.
"On the whole, Combat Stress failed to deal with my case in a fair and transparent way and the decision to dismiss me was outside of reasonable responses any employer would have had in a similar situation.
"I am delighted with the outcome of both the NMC and employment tribunal hearings and feel excited about my future."
Combat Stress had opposed Ms Robinson's legal claim and claimed the dismissal had been justified.
