A trainee accountant who was sacked after leaving work early to pick up her ill child has won a claim for unfair dismissal.

Catherine Henderson will be paid more than £13,000 by her former employer who had accused her of ‘gross misconduct’.

Mrs Henderson received a text in the office telling her her child – who suffered from an underlying health condition – was ill and needed collecting.

All the managers at AccountsNet Ltd were in a meeting at the time so she was unable to get permission to leave.

Instead she told colleagues she had to deal with an ’emergency situation’ and she would explain all later.

The employment tribunal heard that her boss, Charissa Gracie, the practice manager, had been expecting Mrs Henderson to explain her absence in a phone call but only received a text message.

Bosses viewed the sudden exit and the lack of explanation as a sackable offence and sent Mrs Henderson a letter of dismissal just four days later.

It comes after a female estate agent won a sex discrimination claim against her former employers because they wouldn’t let her leave at 5pm to pick up her child.

Mrs Henderson had only worked for the accountancy firm – based in Livingston, West Lothian – for five months, having started a position as a trainee accountant in October 2019.

The panel heard one of her children required medical attention as well as ‘additional support and care’ due to their underlying condition.

Mrs Henderson had informed bosses of the situation in January 2020 when she had to take three days off to care for the child.

Her first absence was recorded as ‘compassionate leave’ whilst the other two were taken as unpaid leave.

Mrs Henderson later agreed a flexible working pattern with her line manager, under which she would work from nine until three with no lunch break so she could be home for her child when school finished.

However two months later, on Mrs Henderson’s first day back in the office after a week’s annual leave, another ‘more formal’ meeting was called to discuss her hours.

During the March 2 meeting her bosses told her that her hours were having a ‘detrimental effect on the business’.

But Mrs Henderson said she was unable to go back to full-time hours because of the support her child required.

The tribunal heard that after returning to her desk she received the text from her child’s school.

After taking the rest of the day off, Mrs Henderson then texted Mrs Gracie again the following day, stating she was ‘unwell due to stress’ and that her GP had signed her off from work for two weeks.

Three days later the firm sacked her from her £18,500 job, citing her ongoing ‘absences’ and the fact she had sent ‘text messages rather than telephoning’ managers to report her absences.

The dismissal letter also highlighted concerns Mrs Henderson was ‘not acting in good faith’ by reporting herself as sick when ‘it was her child who was unwell’, and judging her abrupt exit to collect her child without authorisation as ‘gross misconduct’.

Mrs Henderson wrote to her employers to explain why she thought the dismissal was unfair, but was not given the right to appeal. She then sued them and won.

Employment Judge Eleanor Mannion said the accountancy firm had made it clear it not have an issue with Mrs Henderson needing time off to care for an ill child.

Instead they objected to the manner in which she left her place of work and the fact she did not speak to a manager beforehand.

But the judge agreed with the claimant that the text was sent ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’ and one day’s leave was a ‘reasonable period of time’.

Mrs Henderson’s claim for automatic unfair dismissal was successful, and her former employers were ordered to pay her £13,080.55 for loss of earnings and loss of statutory rights.

Another claim of unfair dismissal citing her requests for flexible working hours was dismissed.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article