Florist’s ‘fear of confrontation’ results in £3K pay-out

Monday 16 July 2018

A florist manager’s fear of confrontation has cost him over £3,500 in compensation after it was found his former assistant and delivery driver was unfairly dismissed, the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal has decided.

Marc Simon, the owner of Floralies, will have to pay out £3,608.41 to his former employee, Sandra Heath, because “he struggles to have difficult conversations” and therefore failed to follow a fair dismissal process.

It was heard that in February 2017, Ms Heath had used the company fuel account nine times to put petrol in her own car and failed to notify Mr Simon. Mr Simon had discovered this over Christmas last year, but failed to mention it to Ms Heath until after he had sacked her.

At the hearing, Mr Simon was described by his wife as “a man who would try to avoid confrontation at all costs.”

The Tribunal heard that the only reason Mr Simon gave for ending Ms Heath’s employment was “her attitude to staff”. After Ms Heath had been fired, Mr Simon took legal advice and wrote to her in an attempt to retract the dismissal and invite her to a disciplinary process instead.

Pictured: The Tribunal heard that Sandra Heath used the company fuel account to put petrol in her own car on nine occasions.

However, by the time she received the letter, Ms Heath had already decided to pursue a claim against her former employer.

Although the grounds for the dismissal were found by the Tribunal to be satisfactory, it was decided that Ms Heath’s employer, Mr Simon, neither gave sufficient verbal warning nor explained in full the real reason for her dismissal.

Deputy Chairman of the Tribunal, Advocate Claire Davies, presiding, said: “Mr Simon finds it very hard to manage problems within his workforce and he struggles to have difficult conversations. This lady [Ms Heath] had been known to him since he was a boy. He handled the situation badly.”

Pictured: The Tribunal reached the decision that Ms Heath was unfairly dismissed, because a fair process wasn't followed, but that the grounds for her dismissal were satisfactory.

Advocate Davies continued: “I felt that this is an employer who probably tried to do the right thing, but who mishandled the situation completely because he did not stop to take advice before taking action.”

The Deputy Chairman added: “I was relieved to be told that the business now uses an HR consultant who can help Mr Simon in times of difficulty.” 

As Ms Heath used the petrol card without informing Mr Simon, the Tribunal reduced the amount of the standard award of 26 weeks’ pay in compensation by 50% to the amount of £3,608.41.