A judge has hit out at a local authority’s “biased” and unreasonable disciplinary process which led to the unfair dismissal of the head of its leisure quango.
Gerry Campbell was sacked from his role as general manager of South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture (SLLC) after officials from the area’s council stepped in and botched an investigation into claims he mishandled a staff grievance.
A string of errors were made by council officials, including failing to interview key witnesses, reporting inaccuracies as fact, and non-impartial panel members being appointed to the disciplinary hearing.
An internal row over how things should progress also led to the then SLLC chair, Councillor David Watson, being pressured to resign from his post with the body, as well as withdraw from the council’s SNP group.
Mr Campbell, whose wife was suffering from a life-threatening condition at the time, has now won his case for unfair dismissal and breach of contract at an employment tribunal. He also won a claim for disability discrimination as he was suffering from stress and anxiety.
He told The Herald: “My family and I are relieved that we are getting towards the end of what has been a very difficult three years, whilst acknowledging of course that an appeal could yet extend this still further.
“We are pleased with the judgment received from employment tribunal and in conjunction with my lawyers are working towards the next stage in the process.”
A further hearing to determine what compensation should be awarded to the manager, who was earning £90,000 a year, will be held at a future date.
In her judgment on the case, employment judge Mary Kearns said the tribunal “concluded that the procedure used by the respondent was biased against the claimant and that it was well outside the band of reasonable procedures a reasonable employer might have used”.
The tribunal heard that Mr Campbell began working with South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) in 1999 and was appointed general manager of SLLC in 2006.
In July 2018, a grievance was submitted by a member of staff which contained complaints about the senior management team, including Mr Campbell.
As it involved managers who would usually oversee the grievance procedure, SLLC sought external legal advice.
That advice included guidance that – as it was an Arms-length External Organisation – SLLC had to continue to demonstrate that it was “truly independent” of the local authority.
Despite this, officials from the council insisted on becoming involved in the grievance.
The judgment states: “This was against the advice of the respondent’s solicitors who advised the chair of the respondent’s board, Cllr Watson, that there was no requirement to outsource the grievance to a third party.”
When Councillor Watson did not agree to the plans, the council’s political executive, including leader John Ross, removed him from the SLLC board.
Judge Kearns stated: “We were struck by the fact that Cllr Watson was removed/pressed to resign from the board after he resisted pressure from SLC to ignore [legal] advice and hand control of the investigation of [the grievance] to SLC.”
The grievance was heard by newly appointed board member Councillor Peter Craig, who upheld it without speaking to anyone other than the complaining member of staff.
Mr Campbell was then suspended and told he was facing a disciplinary for failing to follow the legal advice in relation to the grievance, misrepresenting the legal advice to the council and attempting to frustrate the fair handling of an employee issue.
An investigation was carried out by Gail Robertson, a council investigating officer. However, she failed to speak to key witnesses in the case and discounted relevant evidence which would have cleared Mr Campbell of wrongdoing.
The tribunal found that “some of Ms Robertson’s key conclusions do not fairly represent the evidence she had gathered”. It added that the evidence “manifestly did not support” her report’s conclusions.
Judge Kearns found that Mr Campbell’s involvement in the grievance amounted simply to checking the availability of two board members.
She added that there was “clearly no substance to the charges” that Mr Campbell had failed to follow the legal advice or that he had misrepresented it in any way.
A spokesman for South Lanarkshire Council said: “The council’s role in the process was guided by the service level agreement we had in place with SLLC at the time and we provided support following the request from the SLLC Board. We will, of course, consider any implications from the judgement.”
An SLLC spokesman added that it would engage with Mr Campbell’s representatives to discuss the next steps.
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