'Anxious' cop wins £2,500 after she was asked to help shift furniture

Published: 20:39, 23 July 2026 | Updated: 20:39, 23 July 2026 A police officer with anxiety has won £2,500 for disability harassment after her sergeant asked her to come into the office to help move some furniture. PC Sarah Thompson had asked to be given a week’s notice when required to come into the office because of her conditions, a tribunal was told. Her sergeant did not know about the stipulation because it had not been uploaded to the computer system, so he only gave PC Thompson four days’ notice. PC Thompson said she felt so ‘intimidated’ by the request that she sued her employer, Police Scotland. She has now won £2,500 after an employment tribunal ruled the incident amounted to disability harassment. PC Thompson had worked in the training department at Glenrothes Police Station in Fife since 2019 but suffered from ‘anxiety and depression’. In October 2022 it was agreed she could work from home, and although she could attend the office she would have to be given ‘reasonable notice’ to do so. PC Thompson had worked in the training department at Glenrothes Police Station  On April 1, 2024, it was formalised that she must be given a week’s notice before being required to attend the office. But on April 16, PC Thompson’s line manager, Sergeant Lee Soutar, asked members of the team who were close to the police station – including PC Thompson – to come in to move the furniture. Sergeant Soutar asked on Friday for people to come in on Wednesday, giving four days’ notice. PC Thompson declined and did not attend to move the furniture. However, she felt that because the agreed adjustment that was in place ‘appeared to have been disregarded’, it created an ‘intimidating environment’ at work. She has since retired from the force for health reasons, but took her case of disability harassment to an Edinburgh employment tribunal. Employment Judge Joseph d’Inverno agreed with the former constable that being asked to come in and move furniture with four days’ notice was harassment. He concluded: ‘The tribunal holds that in asking [PC Thompson] to attend at a police office with less than seven days’ notice [Police Scotland] harassed [her]. ‘In respect of injury to feelings following from and attributable to the incident of requesting that [PC Thompson], amongst other members of the team, attend at the Glenrothes office on April 20, 2024, on the giving of only four days’ notice the tribunal makes a compensatory award of £2,500.’ Further claims of discrimination and victimisation failed and were dismissed. A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘We are aware of the outcome of the tribunal.’