No defence for Waygood Gallery that is bust

Oct 7 2010 by Amy Hunt, The Journal

AN ART gallery did not defend itself at an employment tribunal because it is on the verge of bankruptcy, its board chairman has claimed.

Waygood Galleries is facing a claim for constructive dismissal from a former employee.

Liping Mak, who worked as company administrator for the firm, says she was forced to resign because of bullying by Waygood’s chief executive Helen Smith.

An employment tribunal in Newcastle earlier this week heard Ms Mak’s working life was made a misery due to Ms Smith’s aggressive and unreasonable outbursts.

The complainant says the experience led to stress, panic attacks and a severe case of eczema which broke out over her face and body.

But Ms Mak alleges that when she complained about Ms Smith’s behaviour to Waygood’s board of directors, they simply asked the chief executive for her version of events and “took her word for it”.

No board member appeared at the employment tribunal, nor did their legal representative.

Now board chairman Ivor Stolliday has revealed a decision was made not to appear at the hearing because Waygood is on the verge of liquidation.

Mr Stolliday, a former acting chief executive of Baltic, said: “It was a very conscious decision because the company will be closed soon, so there’s no point incurring additional legal charges. The company has no staff, it’s not trading at all, so there’s little point in spending addition money on legal fees.

“We haven’t got an exact date for closure yet, but closing it is, for certain. Our task now is to close it and we will do that soon, but we have other loose ends to tie up.”

Mr Stolliday refused to reveal how much money the publicly-funded organisation has spent on legal fees for Ms Mak’s tribunal, as well as previous legal proceedings last year.

He said: “We have spent a proper amount as a company faced with a tribunal which has to defend itself.”

Waygood’s funding was axed by Newcastle City Council and the Arts Council North East in February this year. It followed a report commissioned by the funding partners last year which criticised the management skills of Waygood’s bosses.

And it came after a previous employment tribunal by artist Topsy Qur’et, who was sacked from Waygood after being accused of bullying Ms Smith.

The tribunal panel ruled he had been unfairly dismissed, describing Ms Smith’s behaviour as “not normal” and her evidence as “entirely lacking in credibility”.

At her tribunal, Ms Mak also claimed the board did not apply the same standards to investigating her claim that she was bullied by Ms Smith as they did to the chief executive’s allegations against Mr Qur’et.

In defence, Mr Stolliday said: “We did look at those grievances extremely carefully. Why would we not be prepared to challenge Helen Smith if it was necessary? I have got huge experience of managing big organisations and I wouldn’t let that worry me.

“I think this case has little merit. The things that were complained of were very minor and somehow it has turned into a bigger issue.”

A judgement in the case is expected soon.