Tribunal Worker’s payout over phone snoop boss

A TAKEAWAY worker has been awarded more than £14,000 for constructive dismissal after her boss snooped on her mobile phone and told her to “get to f***”. Lisa Gordon was forced to resign from her job as a sales assistant at fish and chip shop Livi Express after her boss Kadir Alcu became aggressive with her, the tribunal heard.

Ms Gordon had worked at the Livingston takeaway for five years, but was never given a contract of employment and was refused holidays unless she could find a colleague to swap shifts.

A TAKEAWAY worker has been awarded more than £14,000 for constructive dismissal after her boss snooped on her mobile phone and told her to “get to f***”.

Lisa Gordon was forced to resign from her job as a sales assistant at fish and chip shop Livi Express after her manager Kadir Alcu became aggressive with her.

Ms Gordon had worked at the Livingston takeaway for five years, but was never given a contract of employment and was refused holidays unless she could find a colleague to swap shifts with.

She finally walked out and never returned after Mr Alcu swore at her and told her to “shut up” or she would be sacked.

An employment tribunal has now awarded her more than £8,000 for constructive dismissal, more than £4,000 for unpaid holidays, and a further £1,500 for failure to provide written terms and conditions.

Employment judge Amanda Jones found that Mr Alcu breached Ms Gordon’s contract of employment by “reading messages on her personal mobile phone without her consent” and “acting in a threatening and aggressive manner”.

The tribunal heard that Ms Gordon began working at the chip shop in January 2014 and usually worked six or seven shifts a week.

She was never issued with any paperwork and was paid in cash on a weekly basis.

She was also never informed that she was entitled to take annual leave.

A judgment on the cases states: “If the claimant wanted to take a day off, she had to try and arrange for cover for that shift, otherwise she would not be permitted to take that day off.

“On one occasion the claimant was not permitted to take time off to attend a funeral because she could not arrange cover for her shift.”

In August 2019, Ms Gordon caught Mr Alcu looking at text messages on her personal phone without her permission.

When she challenged him about it, he replied: “This is how you find things out.”

Later the same month, one of Ms Gordon’s colleagues walked out of her shift after getting into a row with Mr Alcu about pickles.

The judgment states: “The claimant was also working on 16th August. Mr Alcu was angry at the departure of Ms Wardrobe as this was a Friday and a busy day for the shop.

“During the course of her shift that evening, Mr Alcu shouted at the claimant words to the effect of ‘shut up or you will be next to get the sack’ and ‘get to f***’.

“This was said by Mr Alcu after the claimant had told him to stop speaking to her in an aggressive manner.”

Ms Gordon also decided to walk out of her shift that night and never returned to work at the shop again.

She took up another job the following month.

Judge Jones said that she found the worker to be a “credible and reliable” witness, whereas parts of Mr Alcu’s evidence were “wholly unreliable”.

Livi Express tried to claim that Ms Gordon’s case should not proceed because it was based on an illegal contract, i.e. no tax or national insurance being paid.

However, the judge accepted Ms Gordon’s position that there was no discussion about being “on or off the books” and that she “thought that tax and national insurance was deducted at source and she was paid what she was entitled to be paid”.

Judge Jones added that the firm “appeared to have a complete disregard for its obligations as an employer”. Mr Alcu said he intends to appeal the decision.

The claimant was not permitted to take time off for a funeral because she could not arrange cover for her shift