A WOMAN who worked at Ruthin School, who accused her colleagues of saying she was “taking the mickey” and that they were “sick of her”, has lost claims at an employment tribunal.

Leeanne Bartley, of Ruthin, lost claims of constructive unfair dismissal, direct disability discrimination, discrimination arising from disability, harassment related to disability, and victimisation against the school.

The tribunal, held across four days in July before Employment Judge Jenkins, heard that Mrs Bartley began working at the school as a domestic assistant (which involved cleaning its canteen) in January 2019.

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In November 2021, Mrs Bartley had been diagnosed with 50 per cent hearing loss in both ears, so was prescribed hearing aids.  

On November 28, 2021, Mrs Bartley claimed that Gavin Porter, the school’s catering manager and her line manager, had been “dismissive” of her, and referred to her hearing aids as “ear plugs”.

Mr Porter said he did not recall saying this, and added that, had he used that term, it would have been an “honest mistake”.

By early 2022, concerns started to arise about Mrs Bartley’s timekeeping, with her said to have been consistently arriving at the school 10 to 15 minutes late, and not regularly making the lost time up, either.

Mr Porter had a discussion about this with his line manager; Nicholas Grenfell-Martin, the school’s bursar; and with Laura Hitchin, the school’s HR and compliance officer, during which it was decided to hold an “informal meeting” with Mrs Bartley.

Mrs Bartley alleged that, in this meeting on February 16, 2022, Mr Grenfell-Martin accused her of “taking the mickey” in relation to hospital appointments (having offered her health issues as an explanation for her lateness), and that she was threatened with disciplinary action.

While it was accepted that disciplinary action had been referenced, the respondents said it was not made “as a threat”, while the “taking the mickey” comment was refuted.

During the meeting, Mrs Bartley also said that childcare issues were to blame for her lateness.

On April 28, 2022, she was informed by her child’s school that there was no room for her child in the after-school club that day or the day after beyond 4.30pm, so she would need to finish at 4pm to pick her child up. 

Ms Hitchin confirmed she could leave work early to do so, but that the hours would be deducted from her wages, and asked Mrs Bartley to see her at 2.30pm the next day; she did not do so.

This was ruled by the tribunal to be a “reasonable” course of action from the school, and that there was “nothing to suggest” that Mrs Bartley had been “singled out in any way”.

On May 21, 2022, Mrs Bartley complained to Mr Porter about two colleagues who she felt had not been working when they should have been.

Mr Porter told her that they had not been due to work, and had stayed at the school to revise for their own exams between shifts in the morning and evening, rather than return to their homes. 

He also reported that the two colleagues had, in fact, told him that Mrs Bartley had been “sat down a lot” during her own shift.  

Mrs Bartley alleged that, during this discussion, Mr Porter said he was “sick of her”, accused her of sitting down for most of the day and not working, and threatened her with further meetings with Mr Grenfell-Martin.

Mr Porter denied saying he was “sick of her” and threatening her with such meetings.

After Mrs Bartley returned home that evening, she relayed this conversation with Mr Porter in an email to Ms Hitchin, in which she added that she “felt like she was being bullied out of her job”, and was “seriously considering handing in her notice” due to feeling “really low and stressed”. 

Though, in this email to Ms Hitchin, she did not allege that Mr Porter said he was “sick of her”, or that he had made threats of further meetings.

Mrs Bartley also requested alternative employment at the school, with staff having been emailed a day earlier about four new vacancies (some of which she was not qualified for, and the others she did not apply for).

But in her reply, Ms Hitchin told her there was nothing available at the time, adding that she would discuss her email further following Mrs Bartley’s return from annual leave on June 8.

Mrs Bartley never returned to the school following her annual leave, citing “visual changes” and “work-related stress” as the reasons for her absences from June onwards.

She offered her resignation on July 13, and her employment at Ruthin School ended on August 9.

In dismissing Mrs Bartley’s claims, Employment Judge Jenkins accepted she was suffering from disabilities at the time of these incidents, but ruled that the reference of disciplinary action in February 2022 was not made as a threat to her.

Similarly, the judge was not satisfied that “any threat was made” to her in further meetings, nor was there “any element of targeting” towards Mrs Bartley.

The judge accepted that the conversation with Mr Porter on May 21 proved “the final straw” for Mrs Bartley, but did not deem that any of the matters she complained of were “calculated”, or likely to “destroy or seriously” damage trust or confidence.

Speaking after the tribunal, Mrs Bartley said: “I was open and honest with my line manager about my health issues, and despite many requests, I felt let down as he did not share with his superior what I had told him for many months

“I feel his failure to inform his boss led to a lengthy delay in implementing appropriate reasonable adjustments sooner.

“Had he acted when I first told him about my health (issues), what happened from February 2022 onwards could have possibly been avoided.

“Ultimately, this led to me feeling unprotected and unsupported, which is what led to my eventual resignation.

“I hope that lessons are learnt from what happened to me and as an employer the school do all they can to ensure no other employee ever feels unprotected and unsupported.

“Thankfully, I am now in a job which I love, and where I feel supported and respected by the people I work with.”

Ruthin School was also approached for further comment.