A worker at a five-star hotel has won more than £200,000 after she was put in a cupboard and made to complete the payroll.

Roberta Ghiotto, who has ADHD, was told to complete a three-day task of completing the payroll “under pressure” with no training in a cupboard after she struggled to focus in the office, an employment tribunal heard.

She was left crying after being told that she would not pass her probation period at the Oxford hotel if she could not complete the task.

Ms Ghiotto was sacked despite telling her boss that her ADHD made detail-oriented work harder for her.

An employment tribunal in Reading ruled that she was “set up to fail”, agreeing with Ms Ghiotto’s disability discrimination claim and awarding her £200,252 compensation.

Ms Ghiotto started working at the five-star Hawkwell House Hotel, near Oxford, as a talent and culture coordinator from October 2023 until her dismissal in March 2024. The hotel is run by Accor Group – which operates approximately 6,000 hotels worldwide – and boasts being an “enchanting retreat” in a “picturesque village”.

Ms Ghiotto was hired as maternity cover and when she started was referred to human resources (HR) despite having no formal HR qualifications or experience.

Struggled with detail-oriented tasks

She said that about 25 per cent of the job involved making the payroll, which she found difficult. Ms Ghiotto made her bosses aware that she had ADHD and struggled with very detail-oriented tasks.

She informed Anuj Sagar, the hotel’s general manager, of this and added that he had taken an instant dislike to her and was “prejudiced” against her. He later admitted he thought Ms Ghiotto was trying to be “deliberately insubordinate”.

Mr Sagar decided to extend her initial three-month probation period by another three months because she had made errors in her payroll tasks.

As a result he said that she should focus solely on her payroll duties for three days in February 2024 in a separate room, which was a former cupboard without a telephone or a window.

Ms Ghiotto found the task stressful and asked for help from one of the accountants and an extra day to do it, worrying that she would not pass her probation.

After a meeting with Mr Sagar to discuss the length of time the payroll took, she told him that she had ADHD and when he later queried whether she had been diagnosed, she said that she had not formally been diagnosed.

He said he received advice from a consultant that he could dismiss her, sending a letter of dismissal in March 2024 based on her failure to perform to the required standards during the probationary period.

‘Set up to fail’

Akua Reindorf KC, an employment judge, ruled that Ms Ghiotto did have ADHD, despite not being diagnosed, and Mr Sagar was aware of this. The judge added that he sought advice about ADHD and decided that because she did not have a diagnosis, he could fire her.

The judge said: “Mr Sagar asked whether [Ms Ghiotto] had a formal diagnosis. When she said she did not, he asked whether the condition had been entered on her ‘charts’ and if so whether it was ‘clear’.

“In light of this line of questioning, we think it more likely than not that in his telephone call to [consultants] the previous day, Mr Sagar had been advised to find out whether [she] had a diagnosis, and told that if she did not he could dismiss her.

“We consider it likely that this advice was given on the mistaken basis that a diagnosis is necessary before a condition can be classified as a disability under the EqA [Equality Act].

“The intention, therefore, was to dismiss [her] because she had ADHD in the belief that she was not protected by the EqA. Moreover, Mr Sagar was aware that the advice was given for these reasons.”

The judge said that the task of completing payroll was set up by Mr Sagar to make Ms Ghiotto “fail” because the room was not a “suitable work space”.