RAF nurse wins £560k payout from Ministry of Defence in sex discrimination row
AN RAF nurse has won a £560,000 payout after suing military chiefs for sex discrimination – gaining almost as much as was paid to a soldier maimed for life on active service.
The huge award to Group Captain Wendy Williams provoked outrage last night against the Ministry of Defence.
The mother of hero Paratrooper Ben Parkinson – who was given £570,000 despite 37 life-changing injuries – told the Daily Express: “We don’t understand why wounded soldiers’ lives are seen as so much cheaper than everyone else’s.”
Group Captain Williams, 54, who helped treat injured personnel such as Lance Bombardier Parkinson, took the MoD to an employment tribunal after accusing the RAF of favouring men for promotion.
She complained she was not selected for the position of Commodore in the Defence Medical Group because of her sex.
At a previous Birmingham employment tribunal hearing she said she was humiliated, demoralised and “totally let down” by the RAF’s attitude towards promoting women, claiming that a male Group Captain got the top medical job instead of her.
The MoD denied discrimination but the tribunal found for Ms Williams.
Now it has ruled that the MoD should pay her a total of £557,038 – including £204,079 for loss of earnings, £105,585 pension loss and £22,000 for hurt feelings.
Meanwhile, Paratrooper Parkinson struggles to cope with his injuries.
Ben should have received £1.6million for all his injuries but the MoD set a cap on injured servicemen’s payouts at £570,000
His life was torn apart in 2006 by a blast in Afghanistan which left him brain- damaged.
It also broke his pelvis, his back in four places, shattered his arm and chest and he lost both legs.
His campaigning mother Diane Dernie, 55, said last night: “This case does make me angry – but I’m not angry with Ms Williams.
“Instead I’m furious with the Ministry of Defence for giving my boy such a small sum to pay for care for the rest of his life.
“Ben should have received £1.6million for all his injuries but the MoD set a cap on injured servicemen’s payouts at £570,000.”
Lance Bombardier Ben, of Doncaster, was initially offered just £150,000 for his injuries.
He was made an MBE last year by the Prince of Wales at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace after he defied medical predictions that he would never walk again. He carried the Olympic flame, walking on his prosthetic legs.
Until recently Ms Williams, who met Prince Charles when he saw wounded soldiers at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2011, was responsible for command and control of treatment for severely wounded servicemen and women from Afghanistan at the unit.
She has now retired and moved to Cambridgeshire.
The tribunal judge Victoria Dean made recommendations to the MoD saying those involved in promotion of recruitment should receive more training in equality and diversity.
The tribunal heard how out of 470 top positions among Armed Forces medical staff between 2011 and 2012, only six had been held by women.
