Married couple unfairly fired, tribunal finds

A BUSINESSMAN who did not approve of his employees engaging in office romances unfairly fired a female executive two days after her husband was also dismissed because she was “collateral damage”, an employment tribunal heard.

Mark Atherton, a director at recruitment firm Key People Limited, was said to have changed his behaviour towards Paula Whitbourn “as a consequence” of her marrying his nephew Jason, who also worked at the company.

The tribunal in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, was told Mr Atherton would avoid communicating with the £90,000-a-year sales executive and made it clear he did not approve of relationships “in the office”.

Mrs Whitbourn and her husband Jason Atherton have received a combined payout of £116,597 after they claimed they were unfairly dismissed.

The tribunal heard Mrs Whitbourn, who began working for the firm in 2001 as a pharmaceutical recruitment consultant, married her boss’s nephew in 2016. Jason Atherton had been appointed a sales director of the company in May 2011.