NHS worker compared to Star Wars villain Darth Vader by a co-worker wins £30,000 payout
An NHS worker who was compared to the infamous Star Wars villain Darth Vader has won a £30,000 payout.
Blood donation worker Lorna Rooke was made to feel ‘unpopular’ after her colleague Amanda Harber took a Star Wars-themed personality quiz on her behalf and told other members of staff she fell into the same category as the lapsed Jedi.
Mrs Rooke, who worked as a training and practice supervisor for the NHS Blood and Transplant service in the East region since 2003, was taking a personal phone call when her co-workers were taking the test in August 2021 as a team-building exercise.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator sorts people into 16 categories based on how introverted they are, level of intuition, if they are led by thoughts or feelings and whether they judge or perceive the world around them.
The official Myers-Briggs test does not suggest any links to fictional or real characters.
In the movie franchise, Vader is a half human, half robot who uses the ‘Dark Side’ of ‘the Force’ in his pursuit of Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance – also featuring Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and droids C-3P0 and R2-D2.
Mrs Rooke told the tribunal, held in Croydon, south London, being compared to him made her feel ‘unpopular’ and was one of the reasons for her resignation the following month.
Despite hearing evidence that the Imperial Dark Lord had ‘positive attributes’, a judge concluded that being told you have the same personality type as the evil Jedi is a workplace ‘detriment’.
‘Darth Vader is a legendary villain of the Star Wars series, and being aligned with his personality is insulting,’ Employment Judge Kathryn Ramsden said.
Blood donation worker Lorna Rooke was made to feel ‘unpopular’ after her colleague Amanda Harber took a Star Wars-themed personality quiz on her behalf and told other members of staff she fell into the same category as the Dark Lord (pictured)
Mrs Rooke, who worked as a training and practice supervisor for the NHS Blood and Transplant service in the East region since 2003, said being compared to him made her feel ‘unpopular’
The tribunal found the outcome of the online quiz ‘reflected’ the colleague’s perception of Mrs Rooke and it was ‘little wonder’ the NHS employee was upset by the result.
However, it also found that Mrs Rooke’s decision to leave her job was actually prompted by her personal circumstances, in particular caring for her mother with Alzheimer’s disease, and that if she was that upset she would not have opened up to Ms Harber at the end of September about regretting her resignation.
Although the tribunal rejected her claim that the ‘Darth Vader incident’ had prompted her to leave it did find it counted as a detriment and poor treatment by the NHS following a protected disclosure she had made several months earlier.
The tribunal heard that in May of that year she had an exchange with Ms Harber over the wording on a new donor safety check form.
Mrs Rooke was concerned the form only asked if a donor had had sex with someone who had an STD and not if they themselves had been treated for one.
Ms Harber told the facilitator that after discussing the issue with the drafting team on Mrs Rooke’s behalf she was told by them she was a ‘bad representative of the Nursing and Care Quality Team’.
The tribunal found the ‘Darth Vader incident’ happened as a result of the protected disclosure because it reflected Ms Harber’s ‘perception’ of Mrs Rooke and was shared with a wider group.
Employment Judge Ramsden said: ‘[Mrs Rooke] did perceive her characterisation as having a Darth Vader personality type to be a detriment, and it was reasonable for her do so.
In the movie franchise, Vader is a half human, half robot who uses the ‘Dark Side’ of ‘the Force’ in his pursuit of Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance – also featuring Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and droids C-3P0 and R2-D2
‘Ms Dee’s attempt to argue that being characterised as a Darth Vader personality type had some positive attributes was not successful in persuading us that this was not a detriment.
‘Nor was this simply ‘the output of the test which the whole team agreed to take’, because it was not [Mrs Rooke’s] answers that gave the Darth Vader result, but rather Ms Harber’s answers, standing in [her] shoes.
‘It therefore reflected Ms Harber’s perception of the Claimant’s personality, and was shared in a group environment.
‘It is little wonder that the Claimant was upset by it.’
Mrs Rooke won her case for detriment following a protected disclosure but lost claims for unfair dismissal, disability discrimination, and failure to make reasonable adjustments.
She has been awarded £28,989.61 in compensation.
