{"id":64679,"date":"2025-08-07T08:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T08:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/64679\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T08:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T08:38:10","slug":"stroke-survivor-settles-job-discrimination-case-for-100k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/64679\/","title":{"rendered":"Stroke survivor settles job discrimination case for \u00a3100k"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessica Lawrence<\/p>\n

BBC News NI<\/p>\n

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

Cliff Donaldson suffered from two strokes back in January 2023, and took eight weeks off work to recover<\/p>\n

A man who said he lost his job after suffering two strokes has settled a disability and age discrimination case against his former employer for \u00a3100,000.<\/p>\n

Cliff Donaldson’s speech and movement were affected after he took ill in January 2023, which led to him cutting his working hours and taking a reduced salary.<\/p>\n

The former property site manager took the case against Fraser Partners Ltd after a new, younger site manager was recruited and Mr Donaldson was told his employment would end in September 2023.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Fraser Partners, which settled the case without admission of liability, said they “strongly deny the claims made but chose to settle in order to avoid a lengthy legal process”.<\/p>\n

“We remain fully committed to equality, fairness, and inclusion in the workplace, and continue to review our policies to ensure they meet the highest standards,” a statement added.<\/p>\n

‘I didn’t know if I had a future’<\/p>\n

Speaking to BBC News NI, Mr Donaldson said he joined Fraser Partners – previously known as Fraser Estates – in 1986 as a civil engineer, before being asked to take on a housing development management role in 2016.<\/p>\n

After suffering two strokes, the 63-year-old, who lives in Belfast, took eight weeks off work before returning on a phased basis.<\/p>\n

However, he said he “never in a million years” expected to be told his employment was coming to an end during a regular weekly meeting.<\/p>\n

“It was such a shock to me that after 40 years of association with the company that I was let go,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Donaldson said he was extremely disappointed, and his mental health suffered “tremendously”.<\/p>\n

“Two weeks after I found out I was let go was the worst of my life because I didn’t know if I had a future at all,” he added.<\/p>\n

“When you have a stroke, it changes your life, you wonder: ‘How am I going to look after my family?’<\/p>\n

“You have no income, you don’t have a job. You wonder where the next step is coming from.”<\/p>\n

\"GettyGetty Images<\/p>\n

Mr Donaldson worked as a property site manager with Fraser Partners Ltd since 2016<\/p>\n

Mr Donaldson’s case was supported by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland which, he said, helped him to feel less alone.<\/p>\n

“I have so much to give still. I’m in counselling at the moment and my physical condition has been improved in the last two years,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I hope the counselling will help me return to my usual self, but that could take time.”<\/p>\n

Employees feeling ‘abandoned’<\/p>\n

Geraldine McGahey of the Equality Commission said the organisation got involved in Mr Donaldson’s case as many people can relate to being with an employer for a long time and feel alone when things go wrong.<\/p>\n

“Employers need to be aware of their obligations, they must fulfil their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I think Cliff’s case illustrates very clearly that employers have that obligation but they also must tell their employees about their rights.”<\/p>\n

The commission’s chief said Mr Donaldson felt “very abandoned” and needed the support of his employer.<\/p>\n

“A good employer would tell an employee like Cliff: ‘This is what I have to do with you, this is how we’re going to work together’… because they have an obligation to make reasonable adjustments to help that employee stay at work.<\/p>\n

“They [Fraser Partners Ltd)] should have communicated with Cliff, they should have talked to him about what his needs were, and they should have sought to try to re-train or retain some of that valuable experience that Cliff had built up over 40 years,” Mrs McGahey said.<\/p>\n

\"Geraldine<\/p>\n

Geraldine McGahey, chief of the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland<\/p>\n

Mrs McGahey said the resolution has resulted in a large settlement, and the commission has worked with the company to review their policies and procedures, and support them to get things right.<\/p>\n

“Because if you don’t get things right, it costs you a lot of money and a lot of actual reputation for your business as well,” she added.<\/p>\n

“People will be impacted by this story, they will consider how employers behave and treat their employees and that can impact on their loyalty to that kind of business.”<\/p>\n

She added the vast majority of employers will have the correct policies within their businesses.<\/p>\n

“But that’s no good if you don’t implement them,” she said.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got to make sure that it’s a living document, that your managers know how to implement it, but similarly the employees must know what their rights are under that policy as well.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jessica Lawrence BBC News NI BBC Cliff Donaldson suffered from two strokes back in January 2023, and took…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[28,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-64679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-jobs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}