A wildlife charity has been ordered to pay more than £30,000 in compensation to a conservation officer who it wrongly dismissed.
Nigel Middleton, who worked for the Hawk and Owl Trust (HOT) from 2001 to 2023, made a successful claim of unfair dismissal against the charity after he became embroiled in a dispute with its chief operations director Adrian Blumfield.
In an employment tribunal judgment published this week, HOT was ordered to compensate Middleton with £30,303.
The order came after the tribunal found, in an earlier reserved judgment, that Middleton was “unfairly dismissed” from HOT.
However, Middleton’s other complaint, that he was punished for whistleblowing, was rejected at the earlier hearing.
Dispute with director
The tribunal heard that Middleton had been accused by Blumfield of bringing the charity into disrepute through his conduct.
Middleton raised concerns with the charity’s chair Andrew McCulloch about Blumfield’s management style, referring to him as being “controlling, losing volunteers and provoking animosity towards him”.
The tribunal heard that McCulloch shared these concerns with Blumfield and the pair then decided that Middleton should leave.
Email correspondence on 10 January in 2023 revealed Blumfield and McCulloch were “both of a mind that Mr Middleton must go”.
Blumfield and McCulloch compiled a report on Middleton raising “significant concerns” about his performance.
A letter in February 2023 sent to Middleton informed him of a reduction in his working hours and management responsibilities, and the loss of his company vehicle due to “financial constraints”.
In March that year Middleton was suspended and in May he received a letter telling him the disciplinary process was withdrawn.
The tribunal stated that “20 minutes later, he received a letter informing him that he was dismissed with immediate effect”.
A charity spokesperson told BBC News following the earlier judgment: “The charity will be reflecting on the judge’s comments, seeking to learn lessons from this experience, while ensuring that our focus remains on our critical conservation work and delivery of our charitable objectives.”
