A Glasgow worker who called a colleague a 'backstabbing b******' has won more than £1,600 for unfair dismissal.
Mrs D Haughian was employed as a housekeeper at Advance Cleaning Solutions from April 2016 to October 2022 and earned £9.10 an hour working 20 hours a week, four hours a day from Monday to Friday.
Mrs Haughian worked at Slater Menswear store in Glasgow where the company had a contract to clean one of the floors, while Slaters staff cleaned others..
During an altercation, Mrs Haughian claimed staff from the company were “having the mickey taken out of them” by Slaters workers, and accused one of the store workers of pushing past her.
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Mrs Haughian said she was "upset" by the incident and believed she "had been assaulted" and complained to the owner, Margaret Bell, of Advance Cleaning Solutions, saying she wanted to involve police.
In a meeting, Mrs Haughian was told by the company's HR manager that while the Slaters employee's behaviour was "not considered acceptable", the matter was being "dealt with internally". She was also told her involvement was "not required", leading to Mrs Haughian becoming upset and saying "she was getting the blame" for the incident.
After leaving the meeting, Mrs Haughian lashed out at a fellow worker, Valerie Logan, involved in the meeting, saying "don’t f***ing talk to me, talk about getting stabbed in the back, you and [Margaret Bell] are nothing but a pair of backstabbing b******s”.
This led to Ms Logan becoming distressed and contacting Ms Bell who attempted to talk to both Ms Logan and Mrs Haughian, but both women remained upset.
After learning about the incident, the HR manager told Ms Bell that Mrs Haughian should not attend work until the incident had been investigated. When Ms Bell attemped to contact Mrs Haughian, she was unable to get through to her, and when she attended work the following day she was told to go home.
It was confirmed that Mrs Haughian's suspension was not put in writing. Ms Bell made the decision to dismiss Mrs Haughian.
The employment tribunal stated there was "no meeting (by telephone or in person) arranged to discuss the Claimant’s dismissal prior to [Margaret Bell] making this decision. There was nothing said to the Claimant prior to this that [Margaret Bell] was contemplating dismissing her or that her actions were being considered as misconduct (gross or otherwise). The Claimant was not invited to explain her actions."
Mrs Haughian received her dismissal confirmed in writing on October 4, 2022.
The employment tribunal states: "The letter stated that [Margaret Bell] found the Claimant’s behaviour to be unacceptable and that she had no other option but to dismiss the Claimant. The letter describes the behaviour as the Claimant being aggressive, using foul language and verbally abusing another employee causing them distress.
"The Respondent states that they need to protect their employees from such behaviour. The letter goes on to state that the Claimant could not be accommodated in any other part of the business but that [Margaret Bell] would consider her for a position in the future if one arose. The letter does not mention a right of appeal."
While, a right of appeal was not offered, the Mrs Haughian sought to appeal her dismissal, arguing she had not been given the chance to give her side of events.
She received a response that "an appeal would be futile as it could only be heard by [Margaret Bell]".
While Mrs Haughian had her claim for redundancy pay dismissed, her claim for unfair dismissal was held up due to a lack of due process, including a hearing disciplinary hearing.
Advance Cleaning Solutions was ordered to compensate £1,638. for unfair dismissal.
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