A woman who suffered from seizures has won a harassment claim after her boss sent her a photo of the girl from The Exorcist foaming at the mouth.
Charlene Friend’s manager Lisa Gilbert nicknamed her ‘Regan’ after the possessed child from the classic 1973 horror film, an employment tribunal heard.
The housing officer – who had sustained a traumatic head injury in a ‘violent gang assault’ – said the reference made her feel ‘terrible’ and ‘mocked’ by her colleague.
Ms Friend added that as a Christian the idea she had an ‘evil spirit’ in her had ‘stayed with her psychologically’.
The tribunal also heard that Ms Gilbert told her colleague that people with mental health issues were ‘attention seekers’.
Ms Friend was signed off work because of her seizures and later dismissed by her employer because there was no ‘foreseeable prospect’ of her being able to return to work after two years.
But she is now in line for a payout after a tribunal ruled that Ms Gilbert’s comments were ‘completely inappropriate’ and ‘distressing’
The tribunal, held in Croydon, heard that Miss Friend began working for Kent-based MHS Homes as a customer liaison officer in 2018.
A woman who suffered from seizures has won a harassment claim after her boss sent her a photo of the girl from The Exorcist (pictured Croydon Employment Tribunal)
Charlene Friend’s manager Lisa Gilbert nicknamed her ‘Regan’ after the possessed child from the classic 1973 horror film, an employment tribunal heard
In 2014, she was stabbed in the head with a machete and beaten with a baseball bat during a ‘violent gang assault’ which left her with PTSD, anxiety and cognitive impairments.
The hearing was told that Ms Friend initially got on well at work but after a restructure in 2019 she struggled to cope with her new role and the amount of training needed.
In September 2020, she overheard a conversation between Ms Gilbert and another colleague about her performance in which her boss said she was ‘lazy’, ‘incapable of doing her job’ and they had to find a way to let her go.
This discussion caused Miss Friend to cry and leave the office and the same afternoon she contacted her GP and was signed off sick for seven weeks.
She returned to work in November and continued to have her work reviewed as she was considered to not be managing her time well.
The housing officer had her first seizure in July 2021, which she believed was triggered by stress at work.
She was diagnosed with dissociative seizures – episodes that cause a person’s her eyes to roll up in their head and speech difficulties – as a result of ‘delayed psychological trauma’.
After this Ms Gilbert began regularly referring to her as ‘Regan’ and sent her pictures from the film of the girl foaming green stuff from her mouth and levitating off the bed.
The tribunal, held in Croydon, heard that Miss Friend began working for Kent-based MHS Homes as a customer liaison officer in 2018 (stock photo)
Miss Friend told the tribunal she ‘felt terrible’ when her boss called her this because she was a Christian and believed in demonic possession.
She added that Ms Gilbert was ‘constantly mocking’ her and that the idea she had an ‘evil spirit’ in her has stayed with her psychologically.
The tribunal found these comments were ‘offensive’ and ‘completely inappropriate’ from a manger and they were ‘distressing’ for Miss Friend.
She was signed off work again in April 2022 and did not return, eventually being dismissed in February 2024 on health grounds.
At the tribunal she won claims for disability discrimination and harassment and failure to make reasonable adjustments but lost claims that her dismissal was discriminatory and unfair.
Employment Judge Philip Tsamados said: ‘We are of the view that such name calling and the sending of such images are both unwanted and offensive as well completely inappropriate in the circumstances, particularly from a line manager.
‘We can well imagine how hurtful and distressing [Miss Friend] would find this particularly given the seizures that she was experiencing.’
Her compensation will be decided at a later date.
