Well-respected Blackburn with Darwen Council worker 'vindictively' dismissed after cancer diagnosis

A well-respected and knowledgeable council employee who had been diagnosed with cancer was unfairly dismissed after his line manager acted "vindictively", an employment judge has ruled.

Andrew Davies started work as a building surveyor at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council in 1993. His employment transferred to Capita in 2001, before being promoted to the role of principal building surveyor, and he was then transferred back to the council in 2016.

In 2021 Mr Davies, 59, was off work through stress caused by work issues and due to him looking after his elderly parents and he was later diagnosed with cancer. He went off work again towards the end of that year and never returned and subsequently brought an employment tribunal claim against the council.

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The tribunal heard evidence from Robert Addison; formerly the council's services lead for construction and Mr Addison had joined the department in 2016, initially junior to Mr Davies, but was later promoted above him following the resignation of a senior manager.

Mr Davies was described by all council witnesses as a "very experienced and technically very able building building surveyor with outstanding knowledge". Mr Addison was critical of Mr Davies' leadership and management skills but the tribunal panel was not satisfied by his explanation of the criticisms.

The panel said: "It seems that the claimant never had any formal appraisals despite this being a breach of Council policies and there is no specific record of any concerns about his performance. We found that inexplicable."

The tribunal panel also described Mr Addison as being "evasive and selective in his evidence". They said: "Mr Addison repeatedly told the Tribunal that he could not recall what happened when he was asked questions about why particular things had been done or said where he might reasonably have been expected to provide an explanation for his actions, although he was very definitive in his answers about other things.

"The tribunal unanimously found him to be evasive and selective in his evidence. This affected how much weight we could attach to his evidence."

In February 2021 Mr Davies was off sick due to stress after reporting to Mr Addison that he felt like he was "having a breakdown" because of work pressures and the difficulties he was facing caring for his elderly parents during lockdown.

Although he returned to work in June 2021 Mr Davies was then diagnosed with cancer in September. While off work he attempted to clarify the role he would potentially be returning to but his severe anxiety was heightened by the lack of a sufficient response from Mr Addison.

When Mr Davies emailed Mr Addison, seeking clarification of his role, the panel found that Mr Addison's response was "deliberately designed to un-nerve the claimant" and that he "must have known he would exacerbate the claimant's stress".

The panel also found that Mr Addison, who no longer works for the council, "had acted vindictively, and he deliberately failed to provide the clarification or reassurance sought by the claimant and had deliberately replied to him in a way intended to increase the pressure on the claimant.

A majority panel ruling concluded that Mr Davies was unfairly dismissed while the panel unanimously agreed that he was subjected to unfavourable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability. They also ruled unanimously that the council had failed to make reasonable adjustments for disability.