An office worker wins compensation after her boss refused to greet her | UK news

An office worker will receive compensation after her boss refused to greet her.

Nadine Hanson, a recruitment manager, greeted her new boss Andrew Gilchrist three times when he arrived at work but he deliberately ignored her each time, an employment tribunal heard.

Gilchrist, 62, was angry with Mrs Hanson because he thought she was late but had no idea she had been to a doctor’s appointment.

She then gave two colleagues a pay rise without telling her within just an hour of confronting her in her Scunthorpe office.

Her behavior led to Ms Hanson winning her claim, with employment judge Sarah Davies concluding her behavior was “unreasonable”.

She said: “This is conduct, by the owner and director of the new employer, which is calculated or may undermine trust and confidence.

“While it might not, on its own, constitute a fundamental breach of contract, it was capable of contributing to that breach.”

Mr Gilchrist, who had just taken over the business, was “deliberately undermining” regional operations director Ms Hanson in an attempt to force her to leave, it was heard.

He put her phone away when she tried to explain she had a date, suggested she “go away” and went behind her back giving two staff raises without informing her.

Ms Hanson, who eventually quit and suffered anxiety over how she was treated by Mr Gilchrist, has now successfully sued her company for unfair dismissal.

She also won a claim for unauthorized 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 court heard that Ms Hanson was the 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, traveled to Scunthorpe to meet Ms Hanson and two other staff who worked with her.

The court, in Leeds, found that after a “getting to know you” meeting of less than an hour, Mr Gilchrist made a “snap judgement” of Ms Hanson who was not pulling her weight, all and that it was not justified.

A court report said: “It is equally clear that Mr Gilchrist quickly got the impression that (Ms Hanson) ‘did very little work and left his two colleagues to do the work’ and that he” I wasn’t happy.”

“Apparently this was based on a ‘get to know you’ team meeting that lasted less than an hour with everyone present, and without any proper information about what (she) did or proper discussion with her about it.”

Days later, he paid an unannounced visit to the Scunthorpe office.

‘(Mrs Hanson) was late that day, because she had a doctor’s appointment. It was a busy day as they had arranged for a number of candidates to come in and be interviewed. There were about eight candidates filling out forms when he arrived.

“Mrs 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 tried to show him her phone with evidence from her medical appointment, but he pushed it away.

“He said, ‘I suggest that if you don’t want to be here, you leave.'” She replied, “After 20 years with the company, the only way I’m going to leave is if you fire me.”

‘The meeting became quite heated. He tried to explain to Mr. Gilchrist how he played his part.

Gilchrist claimed in court that he “couldn’t remember” if he said hello because he was so busy, but said he believes he said “hello to everybody”.

The court found his evidence to be “not entirely convincing”.

The court heard an hour after the incident with Ms Hanson, she sent an email to her two direct reports, giving them a pay rise.

Ms Hanson was “humiliated” that she was not informed.

In October 2023, Ms Hanson handed in her eight-week notice, saying she had “felt undervalued” and that it had left her “feeling undermined and causing her sleepless nights, discomfort and anxiety”.

She was anxiously dismissed during her notice period but the court heard Mr Gilchrist refused to pay her sick pay because he did not believe her.

Ms Hanson won claims of unfair dismissal and unauthorized deduction from wages.

In concluding, Employment Judge Sarah Davies said it was “unbelievable” that Mr Gilchrist did not hear Ms Hanson’s greeting and “deliberately” ignored her.

Judge Davies said: “I think there was no reasonable or adequate cause for deliberately ignoring her when he arrived at work, even though she greeted him three times.

“This is conduct, by the owner and director of the new employer, which is calculated or likely to undermine trust and confidence. While it may not, in itself, be a fundamental breach of contract, it was capable of contributing to that breach

“When he told her the only way to go was if they fired her, she determined she had no future with the business.

“That’s why he offered pay rises to his staff within an hour and without discussing it with her.

“The situation wasn’t that urgent … I just didn’t want (Ms. Hanson) there anymore.”

Compensation will be determined later.

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