Lumley Castle Hotel wedding assistant wins tribunal

Oct 14 2009 by Phil Doherty, The Journal

A WEDDING assistant at the plush Lumley Castle Hotel has won a case for unfair dismissal against bosses at the 600-year-old landmark.

Sue Husband took the 4-star County Durham hotel to an employment tribunal in Newcastle after she was axed in a cost-cutting move.

The 56-year-old, of Chester-le-Street, told the tribunal she had received glowing appraisals throughout the 18 years she had worked at the £200-a-night hotel, which is next to Durham county cricket club’s Riverside Ground.

She said she was “gobsmacked” when she found she had then been marked down as “inflexible” and her future potential was described as “nil” on a scoring system used to decide who should be made redundant.

These comments lowered her score to such an extent she lost her job in December .

Mrs Husband, who represented herself with the help of her son Andrew, claimed she had been unfairly dismissed because of a dispute with management over a bonus scheme and unpaid holiday leave.

Lumley Castle denied this and said the process had been fair.

They said, after Mrs Husband had complained, they had readjusted her scores, but she was still below her other colleagues in the rankings.

They also argued they had asked Mrs Husband, who was employed as a weekend assistant helping to show engaged couples around the luxury hotel, to apply for a job as a wedding co-ordinator after one of the posts became vacant. Bosses said they even offered to make the job part-time to suit her needs.

But Mrs Husband told the tribunal because of way she was treated, she could not work again under the present management.