Former director of Turning Point charity seeking almost £500k in compensation

hmctsA former director of a leading UK charity is seeking £500,000 in compensation and to be reinstated to her job after she was successful with her Employment Tribunal claims.

AB, a former director of the drugs and alcohol charity ‘Turning Point’, won her Employment Tribunal claims earlier this year after the Tribunal found that she had been unfairly dismissed and that she had been discriminated against on the basis of her race and religious belief.

AB’s claim has now come for a remedy hearing before the East London Employment Tribunal. AB is seeking compensation for loss of earnings and injury to feelings but, unusually, she is also seeking to be reinstated to her position at the charity, claiming that reinstating her would allow her to ‘rehabilitate’ her career and to dismiss any stigma attached to her dismissal.

AB stated in cross-examination at the Employment Tribunal that, although the behaviour of colleagues at the charity had caused her “great upset”, she did not believe that the relationship of trust and confidence between the parties had substantially deteriorated and that she was willing to return to the organisation. She did, however, call for the resignation of two of her former colleagues, director David Hoare and chief executive Lord Adebowale.

The charity denies that AB should be reinstated to her position at the charity, arguing that the breakdown in ‘trust and confidence’ between the parties would render such a decision untenable.

The Employment Tribunal has already indicated that any compensation awarded for loss of earnings will be reduced by an appropriate amount to account for AB’s contribution to her own dismissal.

Chris Hadrill, an employment solicitor at Redmans, commented on the case: “It is highly unusual for an Employment Tribunal to order that a party be reinstated to their former position – even if they have been found to have been unfairly dismissed – due to the breakdown of trust and confidence between employer and employee that will normally be caused by the dismissal and court case. However, we will have to wait and see what the Tribunal’s response is to this request by AB.”

The Employment Tribunal remedy hearing is due to conclude this week.

AB’s details have been anonymised in this article at their request