A GP who dubbed the surgery manager’s family the “Clarkashians” and called her an “old knacker” has been ordered to pay compensation.
Dr George Williams, who works at Gardden Road Surgery in Wrexham, is said to have become “obsessed” with her manager, sending disparaging messages behind her back and viewing her as a “source of entertainment”.
Catherine Clark, 62, will receive compensation from the “rude and mocking” Dr Williams after winning an age harassment and victimisation claim.
In one WhatsApp message, Dr Williams, who is a woman, said she was “trying to dislodge the old knacker”, comparing Mrs Clark to an old horse that needed to be put out to pasture, an employment tribunal heard.
In another, Dr Williams prefaced a message about Mrs Clark’s daughter and partner as a “Clarkashian Update”.
The tribunal heard the comparison between Mrs Clark’s family in Wales and the reality television stars the Kardashians should be taken in a “derogatory, mocking sense”.
Mrs Clark resigned after her complaints were ignored and successfully sued for discrimination, harassment, victimisation and unfair dismissal.
Judge Rachel Harfield found Dr Williams had displayed “unsympathetic and discriminatory” views towards Mrs Clark, who was also a patient at the surgery.
Dr Williams had worked there since 2016 and was made partner in the autumn of 2020.
The tribunal heard staff at the surgery regularly made remarks about Mrs Clark’s drinking and her need for medication from the GPs to deal with anxiety and depression.
In August 2020, Mrs Clark made a complaint after it emerged a colleague had been accessing her medical records to see her prescriptions.
Dr Williams’ former partner, with whom she had broken up with acrimoniously, told the tribunal that she had been making disparaging remarks about Mrs Clark for several years, referred to the family as the “Clarkashians” and accessed her medical records.
The panel heard Mrs Clark was an “obsession” of Dr Williams, a “source of gossip amongst the staff” and had been described as “inept” by the surgery’s accountant.
The doctor’s former partner reached out to Mrs Clark in December 2021 to inform her about what Dr Williams had been saying behind her back.
Mrs Clark complained to the practice’s senior partner about the messages, describing herself as “devastated” and “torn in half”.
The practice manager went off sick and submitted a grievance which was only partially upheld by the surgery before she resigned in December.
She took the surgery to the tribunal where her claims of unfair constructive dismissal and breach of contract were upheld.
‘Humiliating environment’
Her claims of disability and age harassment and unfavourable treatment due to disability relating to Dr Williams’ comments and her sharing of the accountant’s views with a colleague were upheld.
The practice was also found to have victimised her by failing to take action against Dr Williams and for the way it handled the outcome of her grievance.
Judge Harfield said Dr Williams created a “degrading, or humiliating environment” for Mrs Clark.
She said: “[Dr Williams] knew about [Mrs Clark’s] history of mental ill health. Yet she showed no empathy or sympathy at the time.
“Instead [Dr Williams and others] fixated on [Mrs Clark and her family] and those associated with them.
“They were looked down upon, and [she] was labelled as a drug seeker, and living a “Clarkashian” lifestyle, as being incompetent and too old for her job. The claimant and her family and others associated with them became a source of entertainment and gossip.”
Mrs Clark’s compensation will be decided at a later date.
