Payout ends tribunal in sacked-for-smoking row (From Daily Echo)

Payout ends tribunal in sacked-for-smoking row

4:44pm Friday 12th March 2010 in

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A MOTORCYCLE dealership has given a settlement payout to a former employee who claimed she was unfairly sacked for smoking at work.

Clothing manager Paulene Hawkings, 54, was dismissed for “gross misconduct” after she was caught by her boss having a cigarette at Dockgate 20 Motorcycles in Millbrook, Southampton.

But the Harley Davidson dealership brought an employment tribunal to an abrupt halt after a mechanic who witnessed the confrontation testified he had been threatened with the sack if he spoke out.

The tribunal, which was scheduled to last three days, was settled before more witnesses could testify on Mrs Hawkings’ behalf.

Mrs Hawkings, pictured, had told how customers and staff had for years used a metal meshframed structure, “open on three sides to the elements”, known as “the cage”, as a smoking area.

But she found herself in front of a disciplinary hearing last year after new manager Julian Phillips one day ordered her to smoke outside.

She was then sacked for breaching the company’s smoking policy, which the tribunal heard had been changed eight months previously to ban smoking in “enclosed or substantially enclosed premises”.

Under cross-examination, Mrs Hawkings, who now lives in St Ives, admitted that her job required her to know about health and safety rules but she insisted she had not been given an updated employee handbook.

She said the policy wasn’t mentioned in staff meetings she had attended and she had been given no warnings.

Mrs Hawkings, who had worked for Dockgate 20 for eight years, claimed it had been used as an excuse to get rid of her. She said: “If I had been told not to smoke in the cage, I would not have smoked in there.”

Mechanic Roger Adams later told the tribunal that Mr Phillips knew half a dozen staff were smoking in “the cage”. He said: “It was my impression that Julian was looking to get rid of people to save money and smoking was just an excuse.”

Mr Adams said he had only received a copy of the latest employee handbook after Mrs Hawkings was sacked.

And he told the tribunal: “I was threatened with my employment if I attended this meeting.”

Mrs Hawkings withdrew her claim after accepting a confidential settlement from Dockgate 20.