Liv Bridge
A British healthcare worker has been awarded a hefty sum after colleagues dubbed her 'Darth Vader.'
There are a good handful of movie stars and villains you probably wouldn't want to be compared to, like Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs, the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz or, as one team of colleagues bitterly discovered, Darth Vader from Star Wars.
According to the American Film Institute (AFI) in its hefty list of 100 heroes and villains, the fictional evil galactic overlord sits rather comfortably in third place on the bad-guy list, behind that of cannibalistic serial killers Dr Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates.
Now, a healthcare worker has been awarded about $39,000 by an employment tribunal in the UK after colleagues reportedly compared her to the most powerful and wicked Sith lord in the galaxy.
Advert
Lorna Rooke, an NHS worker in the blood and transplant service, alleged colleagues had completed a Star Wars-themed Myers-Briggs-style online personality test on her behalf that suggested she had the same personality as Darth Vader.
The Myers-Briggs test identifies people as sitting in one of 16 categories and having a personality type, like introverted or extroverted, which can be used to help support and understand people, though the team apparently filled out a spin-off version that determined which Star Wars character they were more closely aligned with.
The tribunal in Croydon, South London, heard that the incident - referred to in court documents as 'the Darth Vader incident' - made Rooke 'feel unpopular'.
A main element of the case was the fact Rooke was not present when someone did the test for her in August 2021.
She had been working within the NHS department for around 18 years when it happened, having joined the service in 2003.
Apparently, the test pitched Darth Vader as 'someone who was a very focussed individual who brings the team together'.
However, Rooke argued the incident contributed to the 'stress and anxiety' she already felt at work before deciding it was the 'last straw' to make her quit.
Judge Kathryn Ramsden wrote in her judgement: "Darth Vader is a legendary villain of the Star Wars series, and being aligned with his personality is insulting," adding that it was 'little wonder' Rooke was 'upset by it' considering the results were shared in a group setting.
However, the tribunal refuted Rooke's complaint that the incident had a 'sufficient effect' on her resignation months later.
Direct disability discrimination and a claim of unfair dismissal also did not sit with the court, as they said such accusations are 'not well-founded' before throwing them out.
Alongside the 'Darth Vader incident', the tribunal also also considered if Rooke's employers had unfairly refused to allow her to rescind her resignation.
The court inferred that Rooke's decision to speak out about an omission in a list of blood donor safety check questions had 'more than a trivial influence' on the decision not to let her withdraw her resignation.
Rooke was awarded $22,600 for financial losses as a result of the refusal to let her rescind her resignation, along with $16,000 as compensation for injury to feelings.