A worker who was fired during the first Covid lockdown has been handed £16,640 from his employer, after a tribunal ruled he was unfairly dismissed.
The employee, an area supervisor for cleaning firm Esl Bbsw Ltd, was asked to visit a house where his boss and her daughter were self-isolating with suspected Covid symptoms last March.
He was told to collect items from a school and deliver them to manager Edyta Kocinska’s property – despite her admitting she may have coronavirus.
He asked if the collection was essential, because of Covid travel restrictions, and also whether it was wise to visit her property while she had Covid symptoms.
However, after relaying his concerns to the company, he was sacked for "failure to follow a reasonable instruction".
The company then referred to his "poor and inappropriate attitude" during a follow-up phone call on the incident.
The worker took the case to an employment tribunal in Cardiff after the dismissal, claiming he was fired for having reasonable concerns.
The tribunal this week ruled that the worker was unfairly dismissed on health and safety grounds.
Esl Bbsw Ltd has now been ordered to pay the former employee £16,640 in damages for unfair dismissal.
It's thought to be one of the first cases of its type in Britain since the pandemic started.
The tribunal heard regional manager Edyta Kocinska became "extremely rude and overbearing" - which she disputed - and stated: "I am your manager and you should not question me and if I tell you to do something you should do it."
An employment judge referred to the sacked worker's account of his discussion with her.
His concern was not about going to the school, but loading and unloading his van at Ms Kocinska's house, when she and her daughter were self-isolating.
The tribunal ruled: "In the context of the uncertainties and fears of last year and the death toll since then\u0085 the employee was seeking to take appropriate steps to protect himself from danger in circumstances in which he reasonably believed to be serious and imminent."
