Jane Woodward v Barnard Castle Town Council: 2503858/2019
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 04 January 2021 |
| Court | Employment Tribunal |
| Citation | 2503858/2019 |
| Published date | 05 February 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Unfair Dismissal |
Case Number: 2503858/2019 (V)
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EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNALS
Claimant: Jane Woodward
Respondent: Barnard Castle Town Council
RESERVED JUDGMENT
Heard: Remotely by Cloud Video Platform On: 02, 03, 04, 05, 06 and 09
November 2020
(deliberations 10 and 25 November 2020)
Before: Employment Judge Sweeney
Members: Claire Hunter and Stuart Moules
Representation:
For the Claimant: Paul Clark, solicitor
For the Respondent: Amy Rumble, counsel
The unanimous Judgment of the Tribunal is as follows:
1. The complaint of unfair dismissal is well founded and succeeds.
2. The complaint of disability discrimination by way of failure to make
reasonable adjustment is well founded and succeeds.
3. The complaint of disability discrimination by way of unfavourable treatment
because of something arising in consequence of disability is not well
founded and is dismissed.
4. The complaint of harassment related to disability is not well founded and is
dismissed.
Case Number: 2503858/2019 (V)
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Covid-19 statement:
This was a remote hearing. The parties did not object to the case being heard
remotely. The form of remote hearing was V – video. It was not practicable to hold
a face-to-face hearing because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
REASONS
The Claimant’s claims
1. By a Claim Form presented on 19 November 2019, the Claimant brought claims
of unfair dismissal and disability discrimination for contravention of sections 15,
20 and 26 Equality Act 2010. The Respondent denied the claims. It contended
that it fairly dismissed the Claimant for a substantial reason such as to justify
dismissal of an employee holding the position the Claimant held (section
98(1)(b) Employment Rights Act 1996, on the basis that there had been an
irretrievable breakdown in relationships between the Claimant and her co-
workers and local councillors. Although it conceded that the Claimant was as
disabled person within the meaning of section 6 Equality Act 2010, it denied
discriminating against her.
The Hearing
2. The Final Hearing took place remotely over 6 days. The Tribunal reserved its
judgment and deliberated on 10 and 25 November 2020.
3. Evidence for the Claimant was given by:
(1) The Claimant, Mrs Woodward,
(2) Gill Chapple,
(3) Nicky Cooke
(4) Roger Peat,
(5) Barry Piercy
4. A witness statement was served on behalf of an additional witness, PC Marsh
but he was not called to give evidence.
5. The Respondent called the following witnesses:
(1) Michael King,
(2) Councillor Sandra Moorhouse,
(3) Councillor John Blissett,
(4) Claire Atkinson,
(5) Yvette Farren
6. The parties had prepared an electronic bundle. On the first morning of the
hearing the Respondent emailed the Tribunal a number of transcripts of
recordings of council and committee meetings. Attempts to insert and paginate
Case Number: 2503858/2019 (V)
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the transcripts into the electronic bundle proved cumbersome. In these written
reasons some pages are identified by the internal pagination of the relevant
transcript (‘for example ‘page x of x of the transcript’). The dates of meetings
for which transcripts were provided late are:
- 04 March 2019
- 18 March 2019
- 01 April 2019
- 13 May 2019
- 03 June 2019
- 24 June 2019
- 15 July 2019
- 18 August 2019
The issues
7. The parties had agreed a list of issues, a chronology and a cast list prior to the
start of the hearing. The issues are attached as an appendix to these reasons.
Findings of fact
8. Having considered all the evidence before it (written and oral) and the
submissions made by the representatives on behalf of the parties, the Tribunal
finds the following facts.
The Claimant’s working environment
9. The Claimant was employed by the Respondent, a local authority, as Deputy
Town Clerk. Although a local authority, the Respondent is a small organisation.
In the period relevant to these proceedings, the council office consisted of four
employees, namely:
a. Michael King, the Town Clerk: he was employed in this position from
September 2012 to March 2020;
b. The Claimant, Mrs Woodward, the Deputy Town Clerk: she was
employed in this position from 20 November 2014 to 06 August 2019.
c. Claire Atkinson, Service Officer (Finance): she commenced employment
in this position on 08 August 2016.
d. Yvette Farren, Service Officer: she commenced this employment in this
position on 05 April 2005.
10. There were 12 local councillors. For present purposes the key councillors in
these proceedings were/are:
a. Councillor Moorhouse: she was the Mayor from 15 May 2017 to 13 May
2019 (her second stint as Mayor).
b. Councillor J Blissett: he is currently the Mayor. At the time of these
events he was deputy Mayor and Chair of Resources
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