Office worker wins compensations after boss refused to say hello to her three times
An office worker is set to receive compensation after her boss refused to say hello to her.
Nadine Hanson, a recruitment manager, greeted her new boss Andrew Gilchrist three times when she arrived for work but he deliberately ignored her every time, an employment tribunal heard.
Mr Gilchrist, 62, was angry at Ms Hanson because he thought she was late but he had no idea she had been at a medical appointment.
He then gave two colleagues a pay rise without telling her within just an hour of confronting her at their office in Scunthorpe.
His behaviour led to Ms Hanson winning her claim, with Employment Judge Sarah Davies concluding his behaviour was ‘unreasonable’.
She said: ‘That is conduct, from the owner and Director of the new employer, that is calculated or likely to undermine trust and confidence.
‘While it might not, by itself, be a fundamental breach of contract, it was capable of contributing to such a breach.’
Mr Gilchrist, who had just taken over the business, was ‘deliberately undermining’ regional operations manager Ms Hanson to try to force her to leave, it was heard.
He pushed her phone out of the way when she tried to explain she had an appointment, suggested that she ‘leave’, and went behind her back by giving two staff members pay rises without informing her.
Ms Hanson, who eventually quit and suffered from anxiety due to how she was treated by Mr Gilchrist, has now successfully sued his company for unfair dismissal.
She also won a claim of unauthorised deduction from wages after Mr Gilchrist withheld her sick pay because he thought she was faking being unwell.
Ms Hanson is now in line to receive compensation from Interaction Recruitment Ltd, which has 30 offices across the UK.
The tribunal heard Ms Hanson was Northern Regional Operations Manager in Scunthorpe, Lincs, working for another recruitment company.
In September 2023 Interaction Recruitment acquired the company and managing director Mr Gilchrist travelled to the Scunthorpe office to meet Ms Hanson and two other staff members that worked under her.
The tribunal, in Leeds, found that after a ‘get to know you’ meeting of less than an hour, Mr Gilchrist formed a ‘snap judgement’ of Ms Hanson that she was not pulling her weight, despite it being unwarranted.
A tribunal report said: ‘It is equally clear that Mr Gilchrist quickly formed the impression that [Ms Hanson] “did very little work and left her two colleagues to do the work” and that he was “not happy”.
‘This was apparently on the basis of a “get to know you” team meeting lasting less than an hour with everyone present, and without any proper information about what [she]did or proper discussion with her about that.’
Days later, he made an unannounced visit to the Scunthorpe office.
‘[Ms Hanson] arrived late that day, because she had a medical appointment. It was a busy day because they had arranged for a number of candidates to come in and be interviewed. There were about eight candidates filling in forms when she arrived.
‘Ms Hanson’s evidence is that she said good morning to Mr Gilchrist three times, but he ignored her.
‘They went into the meeting room. She attempted to show him her phone with evidence of her medical appointment, but he pushed it to one side.
‘He said, “I suggest if you don’t want to be here that you leave”. She replied, “After 20 years of working for the company, the only way I will be leaving is if you make me redundant”.
‘The meeting became quite heated. She tried to tell Mr Gilchrist about how she performed her role.’
Mr Gilchrist claimed at the tribunal that he ‘could not remember’ whether he said hello because it was so busy, but said he thinks he said ‘hello to everyone’.
The tribunal found his evidence to be ‘wholly unconvincing’.
The tribunal heard within an hour of the incident with Ms Hanson, he sent an email to her two direct reports, giving them a pay rise.
Ms Hanson was ‘humiliated’ because she was not informed.
In October 2023, Ms Hanson handed in her eight-week notice, saying she had been ‘made to feel undervalued’ and that it left her ‘feeling undermined and causing her sleepless nights, upset and anxiety’.
She was signed off with anxiety during her notice period – but the tribunal heard Mr Gilchrist refused to pay her sick pay because he didn’t believe her.
Ms Hanson won claims of unfair dismissal and unauthorised deduction from wages.
Concluding, Employment Judge Sarah Davies said it was ‘implausible’ that Mr Gilchrist didn’t hear Ms Hanson’s greeting and that he ‘deliberately’ ignored her.
Judge Davies said: ‘I find that there was no reasonable or proper cause for deliberately ignoring [her] when she arrived at work, despite her greeting him three times.
‘That is conduct, from the owner and Director of the new employer, that is calculated or likely to undermine trust and confidence. While it might not, by itself, be a fundamental breach of contract, it was capable of contributing to such a breach.
‘When she told him that the only way she was going was if she was made redundant, he determined that she had no future with the business.
‘That is why he offered pay rises to her staff members within an hour and without discussing it with her.
‘The situation was not that urgent… He simply did not want [Ms Hanson] there anymore.’
Compensation will be determined at a later date.
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