Ocado has been ordered to pay a former employee £20,000 after he was labelled as a “complainer” and resigned after raising safety concerns.
Thomas Cooley told an employment tribunal that he had flagged a number of issues at one of the warehouses owned by the online delivery giant.
This included cardboard materials and pallets that were blocking fire exits and access to fire extinguishers, according to documents filed from the Watford Employment Tribunal.
Mr Cooley also alleged that his manager asked him to clean under a lift even though it had not been disconnected from the power supply.
The judgement stated: “He said the lift was very heavy and if it fell, whilst someone was cleaning underneath, it would cause injury.
“The claimant was told ‘not to throw his toys out the pram’ and to carry out the cleaning in any event, despite the fact he was not trained to do so.
“The claimant remained concerned about this, so he asked to speak to Wayne who was the manager of the site. He was told that Wayne would not wish to speak to him.”
Court documents claim Mr Cooley was subjected to a “witch hunt” for highlighting the problems.
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He also alleges that he was given cleaning jobs and received abusive messages on the company radio system.
Mr Cooley, who later resigned, said the messages were received between July and October 2020.
The judge ruled his resignation amounted to constructive dismissal and said managers ignored Mr Cooley because they decided he was a “complainer”.
The judgement said: “As a result of this the claimant’s mental health deteriorated, he suffered anxiety, nightmares and dreaded going to work.
“Ultimately, he had suicidal thoughts. He resigned his position due to his mental health and underwent counselling and took medication to assist him.”
Ocado has been ordered to pay Mr Cooley £20,959.88.
The total award included £14,299.88 for unfair dismissal, plus a further £6,000 for injury to feelings and £660 for treatment.
Ocado said it is asking for the claim to be reconsidered on the basis that it did not receive any paperwork related to the case.
The judgement stated Ocado was sent the claim on January 12 and a further letter was sent on March 18.
Ocado did not file a response to the claim or appear at the tribunal hearing to defend itself.
A spokesman for Ocado told The Telegraph: “We did not receive notification of this claim at the time. As such, we are currently investigating and have applied for reconsideration.
“We await this decision and will not be commenting any further at this stage.”
