‘Stressed’ worker wins £30k for unfair dismissal

● Signed off after triple tragedy, he was then sacked

A factory worker sacked while off with stress following a triple tragedy has been handed £30,000 compensation after a tribunal ruled his dismissal “egregiously unfair”.

Stan Reid, 41, was left bereft after his best friend’s 18-yearold son died after falling from cliffs in Arbroath – before two of his friends were murdered at a vigil for the teenager.

Mr Reid – who had co-ordinated a search for missing Ralph Smith after he vanished from the Angus town – was signed off work for seven days, and during his time off was convinced to go to a gin festival in Glasgow to take his mind of the events.

A photograph of him at the event was posted on Facebook and was spotted by his bosses at Dundee’s Michelin tyre factory, where he worked as a production operative.

Lawyers for the firm said “one would surmise they were fit enough to attend work” if bosses discovered a supposedly sick worker was at a social event while off.

But Mr Reid’s solicitor told a three-day employment tribunal in Dundee: “This is not a chancer pulling a sickie — this is far from it.”

Mr Reid was signed off after his best friend’s son vanished from cliffs in Arbroath.

The teenager’s body was found a month later after an intensive search partly organised by Mr Reid.

At a vigil for Ralph a few days later, two of his friends, Julie Mccash and David Sorrie, were stabbed to death by Robert Stratton, who was last year jailed for life over the double killing.

Mr Reid was signed off – but later dismissed from work after being spotted in Facebook pictures from the gin festival. Now he has been handed £29,485.45 in compensation after winning his unfair dismissal claim.

And in a rare move, the tri- bunal judge is considering imposing a £5,000 fine on Michelin over their handling of the case.

Speaking after the judgment was released, Mr Reid said he was delighted with the decision and said the way he was treated made him “really angry”. He said: “I was essentially bullied out of my job instead of being given help.”

Ryan Russell, of Dundee law firm Muir Myles Laverty, who represented Mr Reid, said “justice had been done”.

The report adds that Mr Reid was subjected to “hostile questioning” from the start and labelled the actions of bosses as “remarkably insensitive” and a “flagrant disregard” for fairness.