Met forced me to leave, says typist

A Metropolitan Police office worker who refused to type saying it made her ill, and failed to return to work for more than three years, is claiming today she was a victim of disability discrimination.

Josephine Ekpe, 55, who is bringing her third legal action against the Met, stormed out of her job at a lost property office in November 1998 and has not worked since.

She says a wasting condition in her right arm left her unable to type and is claiming "substantial" damages and two years' pay. Mrs Ekpe left the police lost property office in Penton Street, Islington, after a police doctor rejected her claim she could not use a computer and recommended she return to duty, an employment tribunal heard.

Mrs Ekpe, who was a police officer in Nigeria before joining the Met as an administrative employee in 1990, said in a statement: "I was unable to press the mouse because the muscle between my thumb and forefinger on my right hand was weak."

The £12,000-a-year job in the lost property office had been found for her in January 1998 to give her work that required minimal typing skills, the tribunal was told.

Mrs Ekpe, of Peckham, said her problems began when she was asked to use a keyboard on her first day of work at 8am on 30 January 1998. Mrs Ekpe claimed after 65 minutes she had "pain in my right hand, neck and shoulder".

By 11am she had "severe headaches and pains in her neck, back and shoulders.". By 12.30pm she felt drowsy and went home. When she returned to work on 2 February the atmosphere in the office was "unbearable", prompting her to take three days off.

Despite Mrs Ekpe's insistence that an unspecified muscle wasting condition left her unable to type, the Met's chief medical officer, Dr Cahill Canning, recommended in July 1998 she return immediately to full duties, including the use of computer keyboards.

In October she again went off sick for four days. And on 4 November when again warned she would be disciplined unless she returned to computer work she again went off sick and has not returned since.

In 1991, she took the Met to an employment tribunal for race discrimination and victimisation and the case was settled for £750. In 1997, she unsuccessfully brought a similar complaint.

The hearing, which is expected to conclude on Friday, continues.