'You can't give notice when your wife dies'

A 77-year-old English widower has been forced to pay £3500 (about R55500) compensation to a carer who was "unfairly dismissed" after his wife died.

Jayne Wakefield, 55, had been working 30 hours a week to care for 76-year-old Rose Lomas, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, until her death in March. But when George Lomas reduced her hours after his wife's death, Wakefield resigned, saying she had not been given enough notice of the change.

An earlier employment tribunal rejected Wakefield's claim that Lomas had breached their contract. But this was overturned on appeal.

"How was I supposed to give notice? You don't have notice when your wife is going to die," Lomas said.

He claimed Wakefield asked him for money the day after his wife's funeral and that the stress of the legal battle has damaged his health.

He said he did not know how he would pay off the woman he once thought of as part of the family.

"We treated her like a daughter," said Lomas, of Scholar Green, Cheshire.

"At Rose's funeral, she was telling everyone she was going to look after me, then the next day she was asking for redundancy money. My wife would be heartbroken because she trusted Jayne. We never thought she would do that. To contact me the day after I lost my wife is disgusting."

Cheshire East Council funded Lomas's care for the last four years of her life. But these funds stopped when she died.

Tribunal judge Kendrick Horne said: "This is a sad case. It is never pleasant to see a fallout after a good working relationship between carer and family.