A WOOTTON Wawen complaints administration assistant complained she suffered concussion after being struck on the head with a filing system by a staff member at a Stratford-upon-Avon farmers’ union firm.

The allegation was made by Mrs Ann Norton of Grey Mill Lane, Wootton Wawen as she made legal claims for disability discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal against the National Farmers Union Mutual Service Co. Ltd of Tiddington Road, Stratford-upon-Avon at Birmingham Employment Tribunal.

Mrs Norton said the assault took place, for no apparent reason, with pink card filing system near a vending machine at the firm.

She complained she was left with a red mark, a headache and felt sick. She went to Warwick Hospital where she said she was suffering from post concussion syndrome.

“I missed an opportunity to apply for a vacancy at the firm, as a result, and I no longer felt refreshed after sleeping,” she said in her witness statement.
“I also feared about going into Stratford.”

Mrs Norton said she had been fed up with “some of the teams involved in back stabbing and in fighting” and accused the firm of not doing enough to help her with her depression and thyroid disorder – prompting her legal claim for disability discrimination.

The medical condition caused her to be fatigued and have digestive and breathing problems, she complained,

She also alleged remarks were made about her wearing ear plugs because of the noise and she eventually resigned – causing her to make a legal claim for constructive unfair dismissal.
The respondents opposed Mrs Norton’s legal claims and denied they had not done enough to help her.

They said there was no evidence to support Mrs Norton’s claim that she had been hit hard enough to cause injury and added that it was “difficult to establish that anything more than a tap on the shoulder” had taken place.

The respondents also said that the word “assault” had not been used during the investigation process.