Payout for sacked official

Sep 10 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal

A LONG-serving town hall officer who was unfairly sacked by a Northumberland council has been awarded £60,000 in compensation by an employment tribunal.

Nigel Fisher’s 37-year local government career ended when he was sacked by Wansbeck District Council for gross misconduct, over an allegation that he bullied and harassed a female member of staff in his department.

Earlier this year an employment tribunal in Newcastle unanimously ruled that he had been unfairly dismissed – and that the council had failed to justify its conclusion that his conduct amounted to bullying and harassment.

The panel said that no reasonable employer would have considered Mr Fisher’s was a disciplinary case justifying dismissal. They also described the council’s evidence as “confusing and disjointed”.

Now – at a remedies hearing in Newcastle – the tribunal has made an award of £60,000 based on his years of service and in compensation for his loss of earnings, benefits and pension.

At the same time, the council’s appeal against the tribunal’s original finding has been rejected by the Employment Appeals Tribunal in London. Yesterday Mr Fisher, who has also asked professional auditors and the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate the council’s handling of his dismissal, said he would now be seeking to re-start his career in local government, which began in 1969.

Mr Fisher, who used to live in Cramlington but now spends his time between his parents’ homes in Ashington and York, had worked for Wansbeck Council since 1984 and was community services manager at the time of his sacking in April last year.

He says his dismissal followed several years in which members of senior management had sustained a biased and negative attitude towards him, his work and his team.

He had also been critical of certain senior management practices.

He was suspended from his job as community services manager after allegations were made against him by project officer Lisa Nevens, whose post was under review at the time. He was dismissed two months later and failed in an internal appeal against his sacking.

Yesterday he said: “I have been awarded £60,000 by the tribunal but this was not about money – it was about my integrity. I think this outcome is a full vindication of what I did from the outset, and that the accusations made against me were totally wrong.

“I would suggest it would be a further waste of public money if the council now tries to take this any further. It has been a personal vendetta against me by senior management but I have now been vindicated and should have a clean record in pursuing other avenues of employment.

“I would now call on the council to take immediate action to deal with the individual who made these allegations, and have an independent inquiry into what has gone on.”

Last night a council spokesman said: “Wansbeck Council is still extremely disappointed at the original decision of the tribunal, which it considers to be a perverse judgment. The council has not ruled out the possibility of asking the judge for an oral hearing to have the matter reconsidered, and until that decision is taken we cannot comment on the amount of the award.”