BOSSES SCORNED MY PLEA FOR HELP

Tribunal hears claims of discrimination against benefits worker:

A BENEFITS office worker cried at an employment tribunal as he claimed his life and health were ruined by bosses who called him a “whinger” who didn’t deserve to be treated well.

Barrie Caulcutt is claiming disability discrimination, harassment and victimisation against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), for whom he worked for 35 years.

The father-of-two, who suffers from anxiety, asthma and eczema, told a tribunal he was bullied by bosses after being moved from the finance office to work on the “frontline” in Caernarfon.

Mr Caulcutt said he was asked to deal with customers despite his deteriorating health and against the advice of his GP and the DWP’s occupational health assessors.

In March 2014, Mr Caulcutt, 55, of Y Glyn, Caernarfon, asked to be excused from a training seminar in a small room because it made him anxious. He had an asthma attack and was rushed to hospital. “I thought I was dead,” he said. On his return, he was given a first written warning for taking 2.5 more sick days than allowed, marked down as “could improve” and pressurised to move to work at the DWP office in Bangor.

An email sent by DWP manager Bev Lovatt to Caernarfon JobCentre manager Eiddwen Borland in September 2014 said: “Let him whinge like crap and raise it in his ET (Employment Tribunal). He doesn’t deserve us to be nice to him.”

Ms Borland replied: “Hi Bev, I agree.”

One manager said she was sick of Mr Caulcutt’s concerns, and another boss claimed his grievance was “absolute bloody nonsense”.

Breaking into tears while giving evidence at the hearing in Wrexham, Mr Caulcutt said: “My life is ruined. “My health is ruined. “I asked for help and all they did was bully me.

“They have let me down and the DWP down because they should have been helping me and should have helped a disabled colleague. It’s wrong.”

Mr Caulcutt said he “felt sick” when he read the emails. “By hook or by crook they wanted me out of Caernarfon – even if it was in a box,” he said.

Mr Caulcutt’s PCS union representative, Peter Doughty, said: “It was callous and cruel to give a written warning to someone who nearly lost his life.”

Mr Doughty said the “vindictiveness” towards Mr Caulcutt “came from the top rather than one invividual”.

Mr Caulcutt said his employers had taken photos of him and his disabled daughter at Tom Jones and Jessie J concerts in Colwyn Bay from his Facebook page.

But DWP barrister David Tinkler denied there had been any “snooping”.

Judge Laura Howden-Evans reserved her final judgement to a date in the near future.