CW Marquees Ltd, based in a Leominster industrial estate has been ordered to pay a previous employee over £20,000 following an employment tribunal.

The claimant, Mrs Melanie Harrison, brought the case against the local business after she believed she was forced to resign from her role as an administrative assistant, after being employed by the company for over 15 years.

The recently published judgment from the hearing, which was held before employment Judge Kelly between May 30 and June 20, said that there was “no potentially fair reason” for Mrs Harrisons dismissal.

In the judgement, it’s said that issues which contributed to a “breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence” began after a discussion between Mrs Harrison and Ms Molly Watts regarding timekeeping issues, which the pair disagreed on.

The trial heard that Mrs Harrison alleged that on or about 2 August 2023, Mrs Judith Watts, a director of the claimant, spoke to her on the phone and used abusive language and with an “intimidating attitude” towards her.

During the conversations, Mrs Watts is alleged to have said words to the effect of “if you don’t like it you know where the [expletive] door is”, referring to a disagreement with her daughter, Ms Watts.

Mrs Harrison alleged that after being declared unfit to work, due to stress, Mrs Judith Watts turned up at her home address, and informed her she should hand in her notice, and that if she did not resign, proceedings would be taken against her to recover monies wrongly said to have been taken by her which were not truly reflective of the hours she worked, and that an investigation was to be launched.

The claimant was locked out of the computer systems and then received a brief letter informing her an internal investigation had been completed, however no details that had arisen were mentioned.

Judge Kelly concluded that: "the way in which the disciplinary and grievance process was handled was a small part, albeit a contributory one, to the claimant’s decision to resign.”

The judge concluded that Mrs Harrison was unfairly dismissed and that the company should pay Mrs Harrison a total of £20,982.02.