St Mungo's must pay £18,000 to victimised former employee
Shocking facts
The homelessness charity St Mungo’s has been told to pay almost £18,000 to a former staff member who was found to have been victimised after an abandoned bullying investigation from 14 years before as reported today in Third Sector.
The staff member had raised concerns regarding equal pay.
An employment tribunal concluded last year that the homelessness charity had victimised Leigh Andrews when she was refused work as a locum worker. The Charity says it will appeal.
The facts of the case were shocking, and it is unsurprising that the tribunal found the accounts of Chief Executive Howard Sinclair and HR director ('Executive Director of People and Governance') Helen Giles “implausible”.
"Legal parasites"
Helen Giles had previously written an article for The Times criticising employees that pursue discrimination claims headlined “Stop legal parasites feeding on small business” (The Times 4/11/2011) and St Mungos staff have repeatedly had reason to question her suitability to work in a homelessness charity. Ms Giles continues to head the HR team at St Mungos.
Read more about the tribunal case here.
Homelessness workers across the sector continue to express dismay at the low ethical standards of senior management at St Mungos which can undermine the important work carried out by its staff.
Staff at St Mungos have taken three days strike action recently and a frontline homelessness worker explains the issues here.
April 3rd 2020
Paul Kershaw