Father sued by his daughter amid employee affair row loses appeal

A FATHER who was successfully sued by his daughter for more than £5,000 amid a family feud over his affair with an employee has lost a bid to overturn the decision.

Kirsty Ure, 35, was working for her parents as general manager at their equestrian centre when she discovered her father was cheating on her mother.

After Alasdair Beaton admitted being in a relationship with stable yard worker Lynsey Thomson in 2016, Mrs Ure began working from home, an employment tribunal was told.

She later left Blue Ridge Equestrian Centre near Falkirk after she became pregnant and gave birth.

Last year, a judge at the Glasgow employment tribunal ruled that Mrs Ure had lost her job unfairly and awarded her £5,391.

However, she said she was left

“crushed” after her father’s company launched an appeal against the verdict.

Mr Beaton, 64, who runs a civil engineering firm, claimed the real reason his daughter didn’t return to work was because he had lawfully stopped her maternity pay.

He also argued she could not claim constructive dismissal when she had never formally told him that she was leaving her job.

However, appeal judge Lord Summers rejected his claims and upheld the original tribunal’s decision that Mr Beaton did not want her to return to work because their relationship had become “fraught” over his affair.

After Mr Beaton challenged the original decision, Strathclyde University Law Clinic, which had supported Mrs Ure’s case, arranged through the Faculty of Advocates for her to be represented for free by advocate Colin Edward. She said:

“The initial employment tribunal was a long, drawn out battle which I was delighted to win – then crushed when I found my former employers were planning to appeal.

“I was delighted when the Faculty’s Free Legal Services Unit offered to represent me. Colin Edward did a stellar job in securing my payout.

“I can’t thank Mr Edward, as well as Strathclyde Law Clinic that represented me at the original tribunal, enough. They provided an incredible service.”

The tribunal was told that the Beatons separated in January 2017 and that Mr Beaton, of Falkirk, moved in with Miss Thomson.

Mrs Ure had started working parttime at Blue Ridge before her parents asked her to join the family firm on a full-time basis.

The tribunal also heard that Mrs Ure and her father were not on speaking terms and he was angry that he had not seen his grandchildren for two years.

It concluded Mr Beaton became “hostile” to her over a prolonged period, failed to pay her maternity pay on time on two occasions and failed to answer her queries about what she was entitled to be paid.

In his appeal judgement, Lord Summers said: “The Employment Tribunal took the view that the whole circumstances indicated that Mr Beaton was hostile to her continued employment and exhibited that hostility over a prolonged period.

“In the absence of any attack on these findings in fact or the Employment Tribunal’s conclusion that they entitled the claimant to end her employment, the claimant’s concerns about the cessation of her Statutory Maternity Pay are beside the point.”

Mr Beaton was approached for comment.

Mr Beaton became hostile to her over a prolonged period