ADHD | HR worker was 'set up to fail' after being made to do payroll from a 'cupboard'

An HR worker has been awarded more than £200,000 after a tribunal found her manager used a payroll assignment to build a case against her, rather than help her overcome difficulties linked to ADHD.

Roberta Ghiotto, a Talent and Culture Coordinator at Hawkwell House Hotel in Oxford, succeeded in claims of direct disability discrimination and failure to make reasonable adjustments, after being told to complete a payroll task while working in a “former cupboard”, away from other colleagues.

A tribunal found that Ghiotto had been placed under “very considerable pressure” to complete the work, for which she lacked adequate training. Its subsequent remedy judgment ordered the hotel to pay more than £200,000 in compensation.

Payroll task used to build a case

Ghiotto joined the hotel, which was managed by Accor Group, in October 2023 as maternity cover. Although her title referred to talent and culture, she was known internally as HR and was the hotel’s only in-house employee assigned to HR matters.