Sacked council worker wins fight to clear his name

Sacked council worker wins fight to clear his name
Former council leader Bill Brooks.





By HELEN SMITHSON
A NORTHUMBERLAND County Council worker sacked for gross misconduct amid allegations of moonlighting at the council leader's home has emerged victorious in the fight to clear his name.
Highways foreman Nigel Riley was dismissed in 2005 after using his council vehicle to deliver sand to a house in Blyth where his colleague Joe Fletcher was building a new driveway.Unbeknown to both men, the house was the home of then council leader Bill Brooks, whose wife had commissioned Mr Fletcher to carry out the job, not realising that he was a council employee.Coun Brooks discovered the workers' identities when a neighbour showed him a photograph of Mr Riley's van.Both men were sacked after an internal investigation by the authority.But Mr Riley claimed unfair dismissal and took the council to an employment tribunal at Newcastle in June.The authority came under heavy criticism for the way it handled the 250-hour internal investigation, and was accused of protecting Coun Brooks after initially denying investigators the opportunity to question him.At various points through the investigation, Mr Riley was accused of stealing sand, being involved with the contract, fraud, and altering vehicle records.His representative, Robert Gibson, accused the council of "chucking the kitchen sink" at Mr Riley, and described the incident as 'embarrassing' for the authority.He said Mr Riley had been used as a scapegoat to save the council's blushes.But the tribunal panel has now revealed a unanimous decision that Mr Riley had been unfairly dismissed.A county council spokesman said the authority was surprised and disappointed by the judgement and will be lodging an appeal against the decision.He added: "The tribunal did find that Mr Riley assisted in the misuse of a council vehicle, and claimed overtime payment when he was not actually working for the council."The
council believes that this amounts to a serious breach of trust between employer and employee, and we take the view that this is a highly inappropriate way for any member of staff to behave."We completely refute any suggestion that the council was trying to protect Coun Brooks during the investigation."The claimant did not allege, and the tribunal did not find, that Coun Brooks was involved in anything untoward, and our investigation did not show this."Coun Brooks said: "I knew nothing about the identity of this worker and I didn't have any reason to suspect a link to the council."My wife rang him when he was recommended to her."I was in favour of a full investigation and was glad to co-operate fully."The person who reported this did the right thing, and I take what has happened very seriously."The public need to have confidence and trust in public servants."