“Spiteful” nursery group seized ex-employees belongings

Monday 24 February 2020

A nursery group blasted as “unreasonable and spiteful” by the Employment Tribunal has been ordered to compensate a former employee after banning her from collecting her belongings after she quit the job.

The ruling came from the Tribunal's Deputy Chair, Advocate Ian Jones, who heard that Giselle Ludlow’s previously happy employment at Organic Kids, which has premises at Castle Quay and La Providence, went downhill after she handed in her resignation.

Despite leaving on “the most amicable terms”, having thanked her colleagues for their “support” and “encouragement” in a letter, the Tribunal heard that Ms Ludlow was “thereafter treated particularly badly”. 

So upsetting was this treatment that Ms Ludlow was signed off from work at the end of her notice period, subsequently making a compensation claim for unfair dismissal.

Pictured: The ex-nursery worker made claims for unfair dismissal, unpaid wages and holiday pay, and damages for a breach of contract for not being allowed to collect her possessions.

While the Deputy Chair sympathised with Ms Ludlow, he said that, even if there had been breaches of contract by Organic Kids, she could not characterise her resignation as having been “in response” to these.

Ms Ludlow further claimed that, at the time of her departure, the nursery group was yet to pay her more than £2,000 in outstanding wages and holiday pay.

Ahead of the final Tribunal hearing, which the employer did not attend to contest Ms Ludlow’s claims, it conceded the pay claim – but only after a 10-month wait.

Denouncing the company in his written judgment, Advocate Jones wrote: “…It is nothing short of disgraceful that Ms Ludlow was made to wait for the better part of a year before her erstwhile employer saw fit to pay her wages. 

“I accept without hesitation that administrative problems can occur with payroll and sometimes things that are entirely out of the control of an employer can go wrong. However, the Tribunal would need some considerable persuasion before it could accept that a delay of 10 months in paying an employee could ever be excused or adequately explained in circumstances where there was no dispute such monies were owed.”

Pictured: Advocate Ian Jones, Deputy Chair of the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal.

This came in addition to the employer’s failure to advise the Social Security Department of Ms Ludlow’s end date of employment, leading to “considerable inconvenience and difficulty” for her.

In his judgment, Advocate Jones went on to reassure Ms Ludlow that the Tribunal would be willing to hear any further claim against Organic Kids if the debacle caused her any financial hardship or led to any penalty from Social Security. 

The Deputy Chair’s most cutting comments, however, came as he dealt with an allegation that Ms Ludlow had been refused the opportunity to collect her belongings from the nursery premises after her resignation.

While he accepted that Organic Kids had the right to decide who could enter its property, he branded the move “unreasonable and spiteful” before going on to order that they pay her £60 – the value of the personal effects – to replace them.

No member of Organic Kids - which has since been taken over by UK-based Busy Bees - attended the hearing to answer Ms Ludlow's claims.

Pictured: The Organic Kids website.

Advocate Jones noted in his judgment that “a Mr McLachlan (who I understand to be one of the Directors and owners of Organic Kids Ltd) was seemingly not prepared to make himself available to attend any case-management” ahead of the hearing, nor was he prepared to allow anyone else to do so on the nursery’s behalf. 

Describing Mr McLachlan’s approach towards the Tribunal and Ms Ludlow as “dismissive and at times contemptuous”, he went on to advise the Director: “In the event that Mr McLachlan finds himself involved in a future Tribunal process it is very much hoped that he chooses to conduct himself in way that reflects well on him and by extension his company.”