An unfairly dismissed charity employee has had her basic financial award reduced to zero by an employment tribunal due to “conduct before dismissal”.
Julie Mayes, who was formerly employed by the Wirral-based community support charity Carrbridge Centre, was found to have been unfairly dismissed by an employment tribunal in July this year.
Mayes had been employed as a community support worker at the charity from 2022 until her summary dismissal in September 2024.
While the July judgment upheld Mayes’ claim of unfair dismissal, it rejected her allegation of being subjected to detriment for whistleblowing.
Last month, the subsequent remedy judgment from the tribunal ruled that the charity must pay Mayes a compensatory award of £2,160 for unfair dismissal.
However, the tribunal also stated that Mayes would have been “fairly dismissed in any event” by November 2024 due to her “conduct before the dismissal”.
The judgment therefore ruled that it would be “just and equitable” to reduce the basic award payable to Mayes by 100% to nil due to her conduct, which included partaking in a plot to create a rival charity.
Group with ‘malicious aim’
The July judgment cited a letter sent by trustee and dismissing officer Roger Merry to Mayes in September 2024, which accused her of having participated in a group “which has been set up with the malicious aim of removing the current management and the CEO of the Carrbridge Centre and thus acquiring the use of the centre and the Hoole Road Hub from Magenta Living”.
Last month’s remedy judgment, meanwhile, added that in September 2024, Mayes sent text messages saying: “If I do succeed to sue the Carrbridge they won’t last long after that.
“I’ve a call with the Charity Commission hopefully tomorrow sometime to blow the whistle […] then the hub and the centre will be up for grabs so need to establish a working charity and apply to take it over.”
The remedy judgment found that Mayes had “turned her attention back to creating another charity” with further text messages sent in October 2024 concerning a plan to create a rival charity.
In one such message, Mayes wrote: “Who’s to say an up-and-coming community charity group cannot apply to the Charity Commission to take over an existing charity [followed by a ‘questioning’ emoji].”
The tribunal judge concluded last month that Mayes was “heavily involved in a proposal to create a rival charity competing with the activities of the respondent” irrespective of her dissatisfaction with her disciplinary process.
The judgment said that Mayes’ conduct constituted “a clear breach of trust and confidence”.
It added that “activities of this nature” severely damage the employer-employee relationship and that as such “it is in the interests of justice to apply a reduction of 100% to the basic award in this case”.
The Carrbridge Centre has been approached for comment.
