A call centre worker who claimed Scottish Power was “knowingly” overcharging customers has won £28,000 after she was sacked from her job.
Thippawan MacLean told a tribunal she believed it was “wrong” to ask customers to pay a final bill based on an “estimated reading”.
She claimed the practice led to “substantial overbilling” on energy bills in many cases, the hearing was told.
Her employers fired her after being told by Scottish Power to get rid of “lowest performers” who were “missing opportunities” to take payment from customers.
However, an employment tribunal ruled the firm had conducted a “sham” disciplinary process, which was inevitable and “pre-judged”.
Up until her sacking in 2020, the tribunal heard Mrs MacLean was viewed as a “successful” employee who had won “awards and bonuses”.
Mrs MacLean worked as a call centre agent for the company Kura in Forres, on Scotland's northern Moray coast, for almost seven years.
She was working in the 'Home Move' team in 2020, with her role centred around dealing with customers moving house and changing tariffs.
But at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, employees were forced to work from home which led to “problems” in her ability to collect payments from customers over the phone.
The tribunal heard Scottish Power became increasingly focused on payment collections, and would monitor how much each agent collected each week.
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When no attempt to collect cash over the phone was made it was regarded as a “missed opportunity”.
After receiving what she claimed to be insufficient training on her mobile phone, Mrs MacLean's cash collections dropped to “zero” in May 2020.
But she believed it was neither “legally nor morally appropriate” to ask customers to pay over the phone based on “estimates” which she claimed could be higher than their actual bills.
In June, and at Scottish Power's request, Mrs MacLean was selected as one of the “lowest performing agents” by her company.
During a meeting later that month Mrs MacLean was told she was being investigated for “underperformance” followed by a disciplinary hearing days later.
Mrs MacLean complained she was unable to take payment over the phone with the new technology she had been given - and again claimed it was wrong to “lie” and “knowingly overcharge” customers.
However, she was sacked as a “risk to the business”.
Mrs MacLean opted not to appeal the decision and instead launched claims of sex and race discrimination, breach of contract and unfair dismissal.
The first three claims were dismissed but she won her claim of unfair dismissal on the basis the decision to dismiss her had already been decided and all disciplinary meetings were merely for show.
Employment Judge Sally Cowen said: "Mrs MacLean did not feel comfortable with asking people to pay amounts based on an estimated account.
"The Tribunal considered that this in part may have been a reason why Kura was not prepared to defend her to Scottish Power.
"However, the Tribunal conclude it was not reasonable for Kura to treat Scottish Power's demand as a sufficient reason to dismiss.
"They failed to challenge Scottish Power's order, nor to protect or mitigate the injustice to Mrs MacLean of such a decision.
"The decision to dismiss the claimant was entirely pre-judged and nothing which the claimant said at the investigation or disciplinary hearing stages was likely to make a difference.
"As [one employee] conceded, it was a sham. It therefore lacked both fairness and transparency."
Kura was ordered to pay Mrs MacLean £27,861.30 in basic and compensatory awards for being unfairly dismissed.
