An employment tribunal has ordered Jones Village Bakery to pay £18,500 to a former worker, including £12k for injury to feelings, relating to his dismissal in August 2023.
Ian Stanley, who is registered blind, was dismissed six weeks into a three-month probation period, working as a night shift operator at the company’s 45,000 sq ft site in Coedpoeth, near Wrexham.
Stanley had previously been seeking total compensation of more than £122k from the manufacturer after a tribunal held last May at the Mold Justice Centre in North Wales ruled that he had not been given reasonable adjustments for his disability. This included claims of £35k for injury to feeling and around £33k for past and future losses, which Stanley had calculated based on annual gross pay with the assumption that his salary would have increased after passing probation.
However, evidence submitted by Jones Village Bakery HR manager Jason Page that pay rises were dependent on skill and not guaranteed was accepted. In its judgement, the tribunal concluded that Stanley had “no more than a 50% chance” of reaching the standard required at the end of that probationary period. “We considered that we needed to factor in that reduced chance into any assessment of losses that we awarded from the end of December 2023, being our view of when it was likely that any probationary period would have ended,” it added.
Instead, it considered Stanley’s immediate loss, ie. the loss incurred from 1 September 2023 to the date of the remedy hearing on 30 September 2024.
In addition, Stanley informed the court that, due to the emotional impact of losing his job, he had not felt able to apply for any new roles for an extended period and had meanwhile been responsible for family childcare while claiming Carers Allowance.
The tribunal also considered evidence that Stanley’s mood had improved through medication and social interaction via a support group. It found that he had not started looking for any alternate employment until mid-August 2024, when he applied for a job as an Eye Liaison Officer at a hospital in Chester, around 45 minutes from Wrexham. It also accepted Page’s evidence that there had been 344 suitable production roles advertised in the Wrexham area since Stanley’s dismissal, where he could have travelled to using his free bus pass and where he had historically commuted.
As such, the tribunal concluded that Stanley was only entitled to claiming net salary losses for the three-month period from 1 September 2023 to 30 November 2023, which amounted to £5,298.72 (plus interest of £229.95).
For injury to feelings, it concluded that an award of £12k was appropriate (plus £1,038.90 in interest). “In reaching this decision, we took into account that the award of injury to feelings compensates for ‘subjective feelings of upset, frustration, worry, anxiety, mental distress, fear, grief, anguish, humiliation, unhappiness, stress, depression and so on’,” wrote the tribunal’s judgment, adding that the purpose of the award was to compensate the Claimant not punish the Respondent.
Jones Village Bakery declined a request to comment on the matter.
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