§ 15. Mr. A. Royleasked the Postmaster-General if he will give instructions for the immediate payment to Mrs. Gray of the outstanding 14 weeks' wages, as raised in correspondence from the hon. Member for Richmond, Surrey in view of the manner in which Mrs. Gray was suspended as an employee after 18 years' unblemished service in the Post Office.
§ Mr. Joseph SlaterNo, Sir. For reasons which my right hon. Friend has already explained to the hon. Gentleman, 1319 he does not think it would be justifiable to pay Mrs. Gray for the period during which she was suspended from duty.
§ Mr. RoyleIs the hon. Gentleman aware that my constituent feels that she has been very shabbily treated, and will he look at this again to find out whether it would be possible in any case to make an ex gratia payment to her?
§ Mr. SlaterI am afraid not. For the benefit of the House, I should explain that every effort was made by the officers to get Mrs. Gray to undertake the work which was assigned to her, but she refused, with the result that they had to take this action. Even when she put forward medical grounds as the reason why she did not want to do this type of work, when requested to produce medical evidence—this happened on 1st March—she did not produce any medical evidence whatever, until 7th June, 1965, when she had other employment.
§ Mr. RoyleIn view of the thoroughly unsatisfactory nature of that reply, I beg to give notice that I shall raise the matter on the Adjournment.