A BROMSGROVE horse enthusiast who lost some of her sight and was disfigured after ammonia was thrown in her face during an attack complained she was unfairly dismissed by British Telecom.
The attack on Jane Noble of Dodford Road, Bourneheath, Bromsgrove, badly injured her right eye which caused her sight to deteriorate, Birmingham Employment Tribunal was told.
She was later categorised as disabled and started working for British Telecom which involved driving a vehicle.
But she complained BT eventually accused her of being unfit to drive and she believed she was later unfairly dismissed.
“I suffered discrimination at work ever since the attack which damaged my eyesight and left me disfigured,” said Mrs Noble in her witness statement.
She pointed out that she had had a clean disciplinary record until she lost her job.
Mrs Noble, who created a non-trading company for the ownership of horses during her BT employment ,said that the horse ownership interest did not cut affect her BT job.
“The company never traded and I was never employed by it,” she said.
She accused BT of disability discrimination by failing to make adjustments to help her cope with her deteriorating eyesight.
The tribunal was told in Mrs Noble’s witness statement that both the occupational health and an ophthalmic surgeon agreed she was fit to drive "per se although she could not drive for as much as her BT role required".
She said the DVLA had been informed and had not been concerned about the situation.
She had been advised to change her BT role at one stage, it was said.
Mrs Noble said in her statement that she eventually needed specialised lenses which BT, allegedly, refused to fund because they were alleged to have said that they were not needed for work.
“BT was looking for a way of managing me out of the business because of sickness absences and my need for adjustments for my deteriorating eyesight,” she said in her statement.
BT opposed Mrs Noble’s claims and denied they had not tried to help her.
They said that Mrs Noble had failed to act within BT’s best interests and accused her of breaching the company’s security policy regarding the use of emails.
The hearing has been listed for a week and tribunal judge Mr Rohan Priani is to make a decision at a later date.
Mrs Noble did not disclose any further details about the ammonia attack.
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