Rothesay Social Worker Wins Unfair Sacking Claim

A ROTHESAY social worker fired after an incident with a man over a long-running feud has won her unfair sacking claim – but received no compensation.

Lynda Keatley-Hayter, who now lives in Rosewell, near Edinburgh, complained that she had been unfairly dismissed by Argyll and Bute Council after the man concerned made a complaint about her.

A Glasgow employment tribunal heard that Mrs Keatley-Hayter had been charged with assault and breach of the peace in connection with the incident, which occurred on December 9 and 10, 2006, but had pleaded not guilty at Rothesay Sheriff Court – and that the Crown had dropped both charges.

However the individual concerned lodged a complaint with the social work department alleging Mrs Keatley-Hayter had verbally abused him, accused him of being a woman beater and of physically abusing his children, of which he was found not guilty.

Glasgow employment judge Walter Muir ruled that the council had paid no attention to the “clear and crucial inconsistency” in the complainer’s account of events, nor to the delay in complaining – or at least the potential for a maliciously conceived complaint.

But the judgement found that Mrs Keatley-Hayter “should have known better than to get involved in an incident involving any member of the public – particularly on the island of Bute”.

Awarding Mrs Keatley-Hayter no compensation and rejecting her request to be reinstated, the judgement added: “As a professional person, she should have known better.”