A GUIDE at one of Scotland's most iconic castles has been awarded almost £40,000 for constructive dismissal after being bullied by her boss.
Shona MacLeod, a former guide at Eilean Donan Castle, was told to "wind her neck in" and "keep it zipped" when she raised complaints with management.
Castle manager David Win also shouted at her that she "knew where the door was" during an outburst at a meeting.
Ms MacLeod, of Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye, has emphysema and suffered discrimination because of her disability which "risked putting her health, perhaps her life, in danger".
She was forced to work in cold, damp conditions which made her health problems worse, and was also subjected to second hand smoke because Mr Win and another member of staff flouted smoking laws and lit up within the castle grounds.
She was eventually forced to resign but has now won her case against Conchra Charitable Trust, who run the castle, at an employment tribunal.
Employment Judge Chris Lucas awarded her a total of £38,378.24 for constructive dismissal and disability discrimination.
A judgment on the case states: "The cause of the claimant terminating her employment was the combination of, on the one hand, a breach by the Trust of Ms MacLeod's contract of employment by discriminating against her, and, on the other hand, a breach constituted by a series of failures by the Trust to deal with her grievances and of bullying at the hands of Mr Win."
Ms MacLeod began working at the castle, in Dornie, Kyle of Lochalsh, in March 2012 and claims she made it clear at that point that she suffered from emphysema.
Within a few months she began to feel "picked on" by Mr Win and believed he was going out of his way to make life difficult for her.
In 2013, a new exhibition centre was opened at the castle which was "partially underground and exposed to the elements", and all guides had to take a turn working there.
During the winter months, temperatures in the new centre dropped to 0C and Ms MacLeod believed that working there could damage her health.
Her doctor wrote a letter to castle management explaining it would be best if she avoided working in such conditions, but no action was taken.
Ms MacLeod also complained "almost daily" about another member of staff, Tom Chittick, smoking inside the castle buildings.
Both Mr Win - who also smoked within the castle - and deputy manager Morven MacLean were aware of Mr Chittick's smoking but took no action.
The judgment states: "Mr Win also smoked at the Castle. Mrs Maclean was aware that Mr Win was a smoker and that at the time of the claimant's complaints about Mr Chittick he, Mr Win, regularly smoked in the workplace which was the castle.
"When asked why Mr Win was allowed to smoke in the workplace, Mrs Maclean's response was 'it's up to David to answer that'."
The final straw came on August 11, 2014, during a meeting between Ms MacLeod and Mr Win.
Judge Lucas wrote: "Mr Win shouted at the claimant, accused her of harassing Mr Chittick and, in the context of her having made complaints about Mr Chittick's smoking, told her that she had to 'wind your neck in' and 'keep it zipped'."
Ms MacLeod told Mr Win she found him impossible to work for and he then chased her out of the meeting shouting "keep moving, keep moving".
He also shouted to her that she "knew where the door was".
The guide resigned the following day.
The tribunal heard that other members of staff also raised concerns about Mr Win and described him as a bully.
Ms MacLeod asked the tribunal to reinstate her, but the judge decided against this.
Conchra Charitable Trust refused to comment.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel