A total of £300,430 in damages has been awarded to two beauticians who had to give up their jobs after developing repetitive strain injuries from giving massages to air passengers.
Virgin Atlantic Ltd accepted liability for the injuries suffered by Jayne Evan and Michelle Hindmarch while they worked in the Clubhouse Lounge at Heathrow Airport.
The two beauty therapists had developed pain in the their wrists, shoulders and backs following frequent, prolonged treatments. As a result they had to quit their much-loved jobs and find other work.
Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd disputed the amount of compensation due as Mrs Evans, 40, of Ruislip, Middlesex, was awarded £230,972 by Judge Martin McKenna at London’s High Court.
He said she was entitled to consider she had achieved professional success in her chosen field but now had less congenial and well-paid clerical work in the airline’s cargo division.
Mrs Hindmarch, 32, of Banstead, Surrey, who quickly found better-paid work in a different field, was awarded £69,458.
The judge said she was “a woman of determination and fortitude who was making the best of her situation” and dismissed a suggestion that she was exaggerating her symptoms.
Medico-Legal News Source: Claims Management Magazine
