Bosses branded partner a ‘nutter’

Mar 28 2008 by Paul Loraine, The Journal

A FORMER housing worker claims she was forced out of her job after bosses verbally attacked her partner in front of hundreds of her colleagues.

Susan Parry’s partner Michael Tansey had been heavily critical of her employer – housing association Gentoo – in his role as a Sunderland councillor.

The mother-of-three claims Mr Tansey was one of a group of councillors branded “nutters” by the company’s chief executive Peter Walls in a speech at the company’s fifth anniversary celebrations at the Sunderland Empire.

The former Doxford ward councillor was a prominent campaigner with the Defend National Council Housing Group and had made various public criticisms of Gentoo, which was formerly known as Sunderland Housing Group.

Speaking at an employment tribunal in Newcastle, she said: “I felt like it was a personal attack on me. Many of the staff knew I was Michael’s partner and they should have known it would upset me. Steps should have been taken to protect me. I felt like I was heading for a breakdown. I was concerned that my relationship with Michael was affecting my work.”

Ben Cooper, Gentoo’s barrister, argued the comments made by Mr Walls represented a fair response to the various allegations made by councillors about the housing association.

Mr Walls’ speech, Mr Cooper said, was a “rallying of the troops” at a time when the company was being publicly criticised.

He told Mrs Parry: “While subjectively you have been upset by this being said, because of your divided loyalties, objectively there’s nothing wrong with what’s been said.

“Ultimately the problem wasn’t that you had been smeared or that anything had been said about you.

“You were stuck in the middle of a public debate between your employer and your partner and it made you feel uncomfortable.

“There was no actual remedy for that”

Around 1,500 employees attended the anniversary celebration in April 2006.

Mrs Parry, 57, of Bowlynn Close, East Moorside, Sunderland, claims she was the subject of “snide remarks” from her colleagues following the night at the Empire.

“I felt I had no choice but to resign to try and get my life back on track,” she said.

“I’m still undergoing counselling as a result of what’s happened. I feel completely let down that the company that I gave so many loyal years to can have such disregard for me.”

The neighbourhood housing manager resigned in May 2007 having worked for the group and its predecessor companies for more than 12 years.

She was diagnosed with shingles in 2006 which, she says, were a direct result of the stress caused at work.

“I was extremely unwell and I thought I can’t go on with this at all,” she said.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through – the worst time of my whole life. My daughters were saying ‘we want you back’.”

Gentoo rejects Mrs Parry’s claims that she was essentially forced to leave the company through her humiliation.

She is claiming unfair dismissal on the grounds that there was a fundamental breach of contract which led her to resign.

The tribunal continues today.