£5k payout... for sacked nursery worker ‘who told kids to KICK colleague’

A NURSERY worker who was sacked over claims she taught children to kick her colleague and call her ‘smelly’ has been awarded £5,000 in compensation.

Siobhan Flynn lost her job after Laura McLauchlan complained she was ‘bullying’ and ‘harassing’ her.

Team leader Miss Flynn was said to have told children ‘kick Laura, kick Laura’ and, throughout the day, repeatedly encouraged them to say ‘smelly Laura’. Miss McLauchlan claimed Miss Flynn ‘was annoyed one of the children could say my name first’.

Sacking Miss Flynn, who worked at Tender Loving Childcare in Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, for 11 years, director Mary Deighan called her behaviour ‘sadistic’.

But an employment tribunal ruled Miss Flynn was unfairly dismissed as a reasonable investigation had not been carried out.

The virtual hearing was told Miss Flynn was in charge of the baby room, which looks after youngsters between six weeks and two years old and encouraged children to target Miss McLauchlan in October 2019.

Miss Flynn denied this, while another nursery worker said she believed the incidents to be a ‘joke’.

However, Miss McLauchlan alleged it was part of a harassment campaign in which Miss Flynn told her ‘you’re gay’ when she said she did not follow a football team.

A report said that when sacking her, Miss Deighan ‘explained she did not want someone in her nursery “who behaved in such a sadistic and selfish manner”’.

Miss Deighan said in evidence that she had no reason to believe Miss McLauchlan was lying and that she had been ‘extremely upset’.

However, employment judge Stuart Neilson criticised Miss Deighan as she ‘formed the view’ Miss Flynn was guilty of harassment but did not give her the opportunity to address it. This made her dismissal unfair, he said.

But he also criticised Miss Flynn for her behaviour with the children.

He said: ‘There were serious concerns regarding both child welfare and reputation that the [nursery] had to consider.’

He added: ‘It does appear to the tribunal there is a high level of likelihood that Miss Flynn would have been dismissed in any event.’

Miss Flynn, who now works for East Dunbartonshire Council, was awarded £5,074.