1 July -
Ashford Employment Tribunal finds Bexley council guilty of unfair dismissal
1 July - Click any image for a more comprehensive Court report
The
former receptionist at Bexley council‘s Thames Innovation Centre (TIC) made a claim for unfair dismissal at Ashford
Employment Tribunal on 28th and 29th June and the three judges unanimously held
that Bexley council had unfairly dismissed Miss Caroline Queen from her job at TIC. While at
the TIC she witnessed the police arrest and handcuff its manager Richard Edwards
and seize his computer and the company’s servers. The charge was one of
downloading and storing images of child pornography. Nearly a year later he
stood trial and was imprisoned for that offence. However Richard Edwards
returned to work immediately after his arrest with the support of Bexley
council‘s HR director who refused to suspend him. Further support was given to
Edwards at Miss Queen’s appeal heard by council leader Colin Campbell and continued
until his eventual resignation with a job reference some seven months later.
The TIC was not unused to sexual offences; “bum squeezing” and love triangles
were both revealed by cross-examination at the Tribunal. On the surface Bexley
council’s Thames Innovation Centre (TIC) is just a money pit that swallows hundreds
of thousands of our cash each year but beneath the surface and on the
admission of its own directors it was a hotbed of gossip and intrigue with an
unenviably poor atmosphere in which staff and tenants were expected to
co-exist. The TIC is not only built on an unsound financial basis
requiring huge underwriting by Bexley council’s tax payers but the whole edifice
appears to be built on lies. Its website claims TIC to have good
transport links when the minutes of its board meetings reveal that one of the
reasons for its poor performance is inadequate transport links. 30 minutes from
London Bridge it proudly proclaims, neatly ignoring the five minute walk to the
Belvedere station bus stop and the four bus an hour service.
Bexley
council leader and TIC director Colin Campbell told the Tribunal under oath that TIC had no publicly
accessible Coffee Shop, a version of events which suited the council’s defence. The Coffee Shop has an
advertisement out on the public road to try to attract additional custom and
carries the same message on its website. The evidence provided was simply untrue. Miss Queen believes
that was not the only thing said on oath that was untrue.
A member of staff who was acknowledged by at least one TIC director to have been
‘screwing around’ with both a company client and possibly the TIC manager too, was
never advised that her activities might be harming the TIC’s reputation, on the
contrary it was officially announced and by implication condoned at a staff
meeting. By contrast the receptionist was criticised for allegedly gossiping with
clients and eventually dismissed for failures that Bexley council had not
brought to her attention.
Bexley council’s defence at the Tribunal was conducted by their solicitor Guy Atkins who
produced three witnesses. Each was allowed to hear the evidence of the other witnesses
allowing them to ‘correct’ any errors made by earlier witnesses. Not a procedure that encourages justice.
Ms. Queen
was unhappy about Richard Edwards’ daily presence and said so, one of her
fears being that there was a foetal scanning facility within TIC and pregnant mothers
were coming in with toddlers and older children on a regular basis. They
were at risk, as were members of the public who popped in to use the Coffee Shop.
I particularly enjoyed the morning session on the second day when Bexley’s solicitor Guy
Atkins spent two hours grilling the plaintiff and former receptionist about every aspect
of the case that he thought might discredit her and a young woman with no legal training
was able to rebuff every criticism with an explanation of why his accusations must be
unfounded. The reason for her ease was that she merely had to come out with the truth and
the council’s case against her was undone.
Unfortunately no employee with less than 12 months service has any employment rights at all.
Such staff can be sacked on any pretext whatever. The only exception is if the sacking is
linked to the employer’s dishonesty or other crime. In this case the alleged theft of post
by the lover of a man who it was believed had committed fraud against his company. Miss Queen.
therefore had to prove that she had been sacked because she reported that theft to Richard Edwards
and because of her oft stated belief he should not be there at all, he was caused to decide that reasons had to
be found to enable her dismissal. Bexley council maintained that Mr. Edwards had nothing to do
with her sacking despite the dismissal letter being signed by him. According to the council
she was sacked by a committee including TIC chairman Derek Harris and councillor Campbell,
the same men who went on to dismiss her appeal. In law that doesn’t matter, Bexley could sack
her on any trumped up charge and probably did. With Richard Edwards stuck in jail it was near
impossible to link him directly to the dismissal when Bexley council insisted he had nothing
to do with it. Evidence before the Court showed he had signed the letter of
dismissal and who but him could have persuaded the committee that a receptionist
they admitted to barely knowing deserved to lose her job?
Richard Edwards never was suspended by Bexley council from his position as
manager of TIC but continued to work there without a computer and
little to do until a few days after he was charged with paedophilia. He was
allowed to resign with a reference and according to reports walked into a
similar job before the law finally caught up with him. Miss Queen has nothing, no reference,
no job and no compensation because with Edwards beyond cross examination the
onus of proof that he sacked her and not a committee who admitted to knowing
nothing of her proved impossible to the Court’s satisfaction.
Miss Queen is grateful to the Court for stating so positively that she was unfairly
sacked by Bexley council. Given the wealth of evidence against them they must
rank as one of the country’s worst public service employers.
The full story is rather more complex than this brief summary can reveal and
a much expanded account may be found
via the main site’s News menu. Read it and judge whether Bexley council is an employer
with zero management skills or any knowledge whatever of good employment practice.