An employee insulting his colleague because of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome has his employer convicted

An employee insults a colleague and yet it is his employer who has been condemned. This is the unexpected decision that was taken against an employee of a British food manufacturer. Hired in September 2020, Jonathan was fired just two months later and was not rehired after applying twice, in 2021 and 2023.

His fault? He called a colleague a “dirty lazy person” because she “wasn’t doing her part of the job.” So far, nothing unusual. Problem: this 30-year-old employee, who lives with his mother, suffers from several neurological disorders including Gilles de la Tourette syndrome characterized in particular by the repetition of insults, which affects one in 200 people in the world and is no longer considered a rare disease.

More than 11,000 euros in compensation

The Liverpool court ruled in favor of the dismissed employee who received compensation of 9,710 pounds (more than 11,000 euros), according to The Independent. “Mr Gee’s disability was the cause of his termination in 2020. He and his disability were considered too great a burden and the simplest solution for the company was to terminate his employment. By rejecting his application in June 2023, the company discriminated against him because of his disability,” ruled the labor judge.

The judge also said he suffered moral harm when he was rejected a second time by his former employer and “self-harmed by biting, burning or stabbing the back of his hand”. For his part, Jonathan confided that he was now working for himself because he had the feeling that he would always be “judged and misunderstood by his colleagues”. Most of the “56 jobs” he held ended because of his disability.