A Highland woman whose job offer to become a police officer was rescinded due to being on prescribed antidepressants is suing the force.
Laura Mackenzie, who is from Inverness, passed the recruitment process to become a police officer in June 2019 and was offered a position in the November of that year.
However Police Scotland did a U-turn after discovering she was on antidepressants for post-natal depression, including anxiety.
Mrs Mackenzie, who is now training to be a nurse, was told she had been rejected from the force due to their policy of not employing probationary officers who have been on depressant medication during the past two years.
Police Scotland, which was formed in April 2013, is being sued by the Inverness resident for disability discrimination.
An employment tribunal will now take place after it was given the go-ahead by Judge Russell Bradley, despite it being reported more than three months after it took place, which is outside the usual time limit.
Full hearing to take place next year
Despite the police lodging a re-consideration against the decision, it was rejected by the judge.
The force also lodged an appeal with the Employment Appeal Tribunal – an independent tribunal which settles legal disputes around employment law – but this also proved to be unsuccessful.
A preliminary hearing is expected to take place before the end of 2023, with the full hearing due to take place next year.
Miss Mackeznie is being represented by MML Law, a law firm based in Dundee.
Speaking to The P&J, Jay Lawson from the firm said that “similar circumstances” have arisen, with a number of cases being brought against the police.
With Police Scotland arguing that the current rule is in place to ensure that “mentally resilient people” become officers, Mr Lawson does not understand this thinking.
‘What does a police officer experience that a nurse doesn’t?
He said: “What does a police officer experience that a nurse doesn’t? Nurses experience the same sort of stressful job environment and they also see and deal with quite harrowing things as well.
“So to say that she was mentally unfit to be a police officer but mentally fit enough to be a nurse, it seems to be fairly contradictory in our view.”
Mr Lawson says that it is “awfully bizarre” that potential police officers are refused due due to being on antidepressants within the past two years, although serving ones are not affected.
He added: “I can guarantee it that there is probably a large proportion of Police Scotland’s workforce that during their time of being a police officer have been on antidepressant or anti anxiety-medication.”
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate for us to comment at this stage.”
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