A Redbridge councillor “weaponised” an employee’s disability to “assert her control” while working at a Tower Hamlets GP group, an employment tribunal found.

Earlier this year, Rafealia Sahin was awarded £104,740 in damages after making a successful claim against Tower Hamlets GP Care Group for discriminatory treatment by her line manager Sahdia Warraich.

Warraich, who is a Labour councillor for Loxford ward in Ilford, is also a social prescribing manager at the GP group, which is a federation of 36 practices across Tower Hamlets.

An employment tribunal found Cllr Warraich “weaponised” Rafealia’s conditions, which include epilepsy, after being criticised for her management decisions.

It ruled that Rafealia left her job after less than four months, on October 11, 2018, due to “direct discrimination” following harassment, victimisation and a failure to make reasonable adjustments.

In a judgement published in June, the tribunal said Cllr Warraich made “alarmist assumptions or assertions” about Rafealia’s epilepsy, which was “well-managed”, to deflect from her “lack of organisation”.

It added: “We have found that in effect Ms Warraich ‘weaponised’ or used the Claimant’s disability as an excuse to make life difficult for the claimant.

“We are satisfied that the suggested problems were illustrative of an agenda that was being pursued by Ms Warraich in an attempt to suggest that the claimant was unfit for work.

“The conduct was unwanted conduct related to her disability and had the effect of creating an intimidating and hostile environment.”

The tribunal’s decision was published in June this year, 12 months after the arguments were heard in court and four years after the disagreement began in August 2018.

It outlines a manager-employee relationship that soured within days of starting, when Cllr Warraich warned Rafealia about “backchat” over her induction process.

By August 13, Cllr Warraich ordered Rafealia to stop working directly with GP surgeries until she had carried out “motivational interview training”, without telling her why this was needed.

On August 23, three days after her employee had made a formal grievance complaint, Cllr Warraich referred her to an occupational therapist without consent, suggesting the new employee was “unfit for work”.

In a formal grievance hearing a week later, Cllr Warraich then suggested that Rafealia had been hostile to her and another manager because “we are both black women”.

The tribunal wrote: “We find that Ms Warraich was on the spot and she grasped at this allegation in order to deflect from the criticisms that were made of her by [Rafealia].”

In a remedy hearing in June this year, the tribunal awarded the £104,740 sum based on financial loss, injury to feelings and personal injury, adding an uplift of 15 per cent for the GP group’s failure to follow the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service’s dispute resolution code.

A friend of Cllr Warraich said: “Everyone who knows Sahdia knows her as a disabled woman, a carer of her disabled family members and a disability champion.

“The judgement uses quotes nobody who knows Sahdia would recognise were from her while her employer is addressing the serious matters raised in the case.”

A spokesperson for Tower Hamlets GP Care Group said: “We aim to be a good employer and we have reviewed our training to enhance staff awareness of disabilities, and our procedures to ensure we respect and make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities.”

A spokesperson for Redbridge Council said issues raised at the tribunal are unrelated to Cllr Warraich’s role as a councillor, therefore the code of conduct rules do not apply.