Boss refuses to say hello three times to employee, latter gets compensation

An office worker has secured for himself compensation after she complained that her recruitment boss did not say hell to her which breached employment laws. 

A Leeds employment tribunal heard the case of Andrew Gilchrist, who faced the allegation of refusing to greet Nadine Hanson three times after she came to work. 

As per reports, Gilchrist was angry at Hanson because she was late, however, he was unaware that she had a medical appointment. 

The 62-year-old also gave her two colleagues a pay rise within an hour after confronting her.

Hanson won the unfair dismissal claim and employment judge Sarah Davies stated that his behaviour was "unreasonable' and likely to "undermine trust and confidence". 

Gilchrist had taken over the business recently and was "deliberately undermining" regional operations manager Hanson to try to force her to leave, the tribunal heard.

The recruiting boss also pushed her phone when the employee tried to explain that she had an appointment.

Hanson suffered from anxiety due to Gilchrist's behaviour and eventually quit. She then sued his company for unfair dismissal.

The employee also won a claim of unauthorised wage deduction after Gilchrist withheld her sick pay. 

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Hanson will now get compensation from Interaction Recruitment Ltd.

"That is conduct, from the owner and director of the new employer, that is calculated or likely to undermine trust and confidence," said the judge.

"While it might not, by itself, be a fundamental breach of contract, it was capable of contributing to such a breach," he added. 

Here's what the 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"," stated the tribunal report.

"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," it added. 

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After some days, Gilchrist visited the Scunthorpe office unannounced.

"He arrived before [Ms Hanson]. She 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," said the tribunal. 

"[Ms Hanson's] evidence is that she said good morning to Mr Gilchrist three times, but he ignored her. He then told her, in front of her colleagues, "I suggest you go into the meeting room". 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," it added.

(With inputs from agencies)