Vodafone sacked mother from her customer services job

A Vodafone employee has claimed she was sacked for taking too much time off work to keep a bedside vigil for her three-year-daughter who was on life support. 

Kelly Credland, 35, had to take six days off after her daughter Rhi was admitted to A&E because her throat closed.

The youngster, from Lincoln, was admitted to hospital following a complication which was caused by common childhood condition croup last month.

She was rushed to a different hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit an hour’s drive away where she was incubated and placed on life support. 

Kelly Credland, 35, took take six days off work after her daughter Rhi (pictured together) was admitted to A&E

The youngster (pictured) was admitted to hospital following a complication which was caused by common childhood condition croup last month

The youngster (pictured) was admitted to hospital following a complication which was caused by common childhood condition croup last month

Mrs Credland (pictured with her husband Lee) returned to work at the call centre in Newark on September 27

Mrs Credland (pictured with her husband Lee) returned to work at the call centre in Newark on September 27

However, Mrs Credland was horrified to learn her position as customer advisor at the mobile phone giant was terminated.

Vodafone deny the contract termination was connected to absences caused by Rhi’s ill health and says she was supported during her employment. 

Mrs Credland returned to work at the call centre in Newark, Nottinghamshire, on September 27 and claims she was frogmarched to a meeting with management.

She claims they deliberated on her future with the company for 20 minutes and then told her she was fired.

She said: ‘A manager started reading off a piece of paper with no emotion pretty much telling me ‘you’ve had so many days off – we’re terminating your contract today’.

‘I couldn’t believe it. I took the pass from round my neck really calmly and was then taken to my locker while all my team mates watched – it was so humiliating.

‘I was followed out of the building where the manager who had just fired me wished me all the best.

‘I got in my car and drove home, it took me about 24 hours to realise what had happened.

‘I cried a lot, I felt like such a fool – I’d done nothing wrong.

‘It escalated straight away because I was in probation after taking sick leave.’ 

The youngster was rushed to hospital

She was placed on life support

The youngster was rushed to a different hospital’s paediatric intensive care and placed on life support

Her mother (pictured on her wedding day with daughters Lyla and Rhi) was stunned to learn her customer advisor job at the mobile phone giant had been terminated

Her mother (pictured on her wedding day with daughters Lyla and Rhi) was stunned to learn her customer advisor job at the mobile phone giant had been terminated

She claims that she was let go as a result of her deciding to take time off to be at her daughter’s side.  

Mrs Credland added: ‘The whole thing was horrific – she’s only tiny and so beautiful.

‘When the doctors looked down her throat it had closed up, they said they needed to get her into theatre immediately.

‘They let me go to the room with her as she went asleep, afterwards I ran out of the room and I broke down hysterical.  

‘When she was out of theatre she had a machine breathing for her. Her eyes were taped closed, she was hooked up to lots of wires, heart monitors and she had two cannulas on her foot and hand.

‘I just wanted to get on the bed with her and cuddle her.’

Rhi started sounding hoarse on September 19 and was taken to Lincoln County Hospital A&E because she started struggling to breathe.

She was diagnosed with severe croup despite not displaying one of the typical symptoms – a distinctive barking cough.

Rhi was transferred to the paediatric intensive care unit at Queen’s Medical Centre Nottingham later that evening where she spent three days before being discharged on September 23.

She was rushed to hospital

The youngster had a closed throat

Her hospital visit completed a hat-trick of hospital admissions for the family in the last few months

Her hospital visit completed a hat-trick of hospital admissions for the family in the last few months.

Mrs Credland, a mother-of-two, was hospitalised and quarantined for four days with suspected meningitis during Vodafone customer service training back in July.

Stone mason husband Lee Credland, 28, was admitted to hospital for three days in August with issues relating to his bowel and bladder.

Mrs Credland added: ‘Back in July I was really poorly. I started being sick and was photophobic and my temperature hit 40 degrees.

‘I had to have spinal taps so they could get fluid from my brain as they thought I had meningitis.

‘I spoke to my boss at the time who told me not to worry – I was signed off sick and told I could join the next training cohort.

WHAT IS CROUP? 

Croup is a childhood condition that affects the windpipe (trachea), the airways to the lungs (the bronchi) and the voice box (larynx).

Children with croup have a distinctive barking cough and will make a harsh sound, known as stridor, when they breathe in.

They may also have a hoarse voice and find it difficult to breathe because their airway is blocked.

Commonly, croup is caused by a virus. Several viruses can cause croup but in most cases it is the parainfluenza virus.

Croup usually affects young children aged between six months and three years, with most cases occurring in one-year-olds. 

Source: NHS 

‘When Lee was admitted in August he sat in hospital on his own up there for three days as I didn’t dare take any time off work.

‘I also caught a sickness and diarrhoea bug so had to take a couple of days off – then this happened with Rhi, it just never seemed to end.’ 

Mrs Credland said that given the extreme circumstances she faced she wishes the situation could have been handled differently.

She said: ‘Doctors told me that if she hadn’t been taken to A&E when she was she would have died as her throat was closing up every second, that’s how serious it was.

‘If only they’d had a bit of compassion – I was good at my job.

‘I’m disgusted at the way I was treated, there was no humanity. I was treated like a no-one.

‘I wasn’t seen as a human or a mother. Their tag line is ‘we care’ – they don’t.’

A Vodafone spokesman said: ‘The termination of Mrs Credland’s contract was in no way connected to absences caused by her daughter’s ill health or her own.

‘We always make every effort to support our employees when they most need it as we did in this case.

‘As a matter of policy, we are not able to discuss the reasons behind this decision.’ 

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