A Camden UNISON member won back their job last month (September) after a successful appeal by a branch officer to a panel of two councillors. In addition they were awarded their full back pay backdated nearly a year.
The councillors exercised their discretion to reinstate the member in the light of exceptional mitigating circumstances, which management had never refuted. Indeed, the manager who had presided over the original hearing that resulted in their dismissal also acknowledged the member’s very good record at work.
While there was no realistic chance of a successful Employment Tribunal claim and in any event a Tribunal could not have compelled Camden to give the member their job back, they are now back at work thanks to an internal appeal procedure that UNISON has effectively defended, though some in senior management would like to scrap it.
Due to the unusual and very sensitive background to this case, the branch is not reporting further details, but would like to thank the member concerned for allowing us to share this exceptional bit of good news.