Charity ordered to pay employee compensation after boss screamed 'I am the CEO' at her

A charity has been ordered to pay over £2,000 compensation to an employee after its boss screamed "I am the CEO" at her.

'Angry' charity boss Matthew Gibbs shouted "I am the CEO" at Julie Mayes when she tried to stop him from being hostile towards volunteers, an employment tribunal heard.

Mr Gibbs was 'screaming in her face' and left support worker Ms Mayes 'in a state'.

Liverpool Employment Tribunal also heard Mr Gibbs would 'shout and swear' at work and 'throw boxes'.

Ms Mayes claimed that Mr Gibbs used 'inappropriate sexualised language' and on one occasion he 'jumped on a table and gyrated and thrusted his hips'.

When trustees believed that Ms Mayes had gone on to complain about Mr Gibbs in community meetings, they fired the support worker without conducting a proper investigation.

She has now won an unfair dismissal case at the employment tribunal. She has won £2,160.

Ms Mayes began her employment as a Community Support Worker with The Carrbridge Centre, a charity that offers support to people in Wirral, Merseyside, on 4 January, 2022.

Mr Mayes' role was to help 'vulnerable families, children and the elderly' by offering 'community support, providing emergency food and signposted users to services elsewhere'.

The tribunal heard that: "She was managed by Mr Gibbs and with whom she had experienced tensions at work.

"Over a six-to-eight-month period, his behaviour became increasingly worse because of what the claimant believed were mental health issues and he would shout and swear and throw boxes.

"She recalled that one volunteer walked out consequently. She also described him being rough in the way he handled his dog.

"She also argued that he could use inappropriate sexualised language and recalled that he jumped on a table and gyrated and thrusted his hips.

"In conclusion, she said that this behaviour 'became the norm'."

At a meeting with two of the charity's trustees on July 18, 2024, she explained these issues and said that 'some of the adults who worked with her or were service users could come from backgrounds where abuse had happened and Mr Gibbs behaviour was inappropriate and could trigger within, feelings of trauma'.

But the tribunal then heard that: "The next month on August 21, 2024, [Ms Mayes] described a further incident when a service user complained about crates being in the way of the door to the Hub.

"Mr Gibbs once told, reacted badly and was swearing and being angry towards the volunteers.

"[Ms Mayes] said that she tried to stand between Mr Gibbs and the volunteers.

"He became angry towards her and accused [Ms Mayes] (incorrectly), of alleging that he had committed sexual abuse at the meeting on July 18, 2024, with the Trustees.

"She said that he was screaming in her face and saying, 'I am the CEO' and described herself as being 'in a state' after this event.

"She was instructed to work from home although she was not formally suspended at this point."

On September 4, 2024, the trustees received an anonymous communication from an employee of a local housing association that Ms Mayes had been complaining about Mr Gibbs at a community meeting.

He accused her of 'riling others due to her concern over her job' and the trustees began to believe that there was a 'witch hunt' over the CEO.

On September 12, 2024, there was a fact finding meeting between Ms Mayes and the trustees.

At the meeting, Ms Mayes 'explained that Mr Gibbs had been responsible for a couple of aggressive incidents directed at her which seemed to focus upon him swearing at her'.

The tribunal heard that at the meeting: "They discussed an incident on August 21, 2024, which ultimately involved Mr Gibbs speaking inappropriately to service users and volunteers at the Hub and then he started swearing at [Ms Mayes] and behaving in an aggressive manner.

"She acknowledged she may have used swear words in retaliation and stood up to him for speaking to her in that way in her workplace but also described feeling scared and intimidated.

"She said that she ended up leaving the Hub, getting into her car and that she then 'cried my eyes out'.

"She then referred back to Mr Gibbs dancing in a sexualised way in the Hub when members of the public were present, describing it as inappropriate.

Ms Mayes had 'reasonably' believed the meeting to be about her relationship with Mr Gibbs.

However the trustees then asked about the community meeting and anonymous message, which she should have been told about in advance.

The decision was made to invite Ms Mayes to a disciplinary hearing, with a letter telling her: 'You have participated in a group which has been set up with the malicious aim of removing the current management and the CEO of the Carrbridge Centre."

There was a meeting on September 30, 2024, and Ms Mayes was dismissed for gross misconduct.

She appealed but the decision was upheld, so she took her employer to an employment tribunal in Liverpool.

There, Employment Judge Alan Johnson found that she had been unfairly dismissed.

They concluded: "[The Carrbridge Centre] had carried out an investigation before the disciplinary hearing took place but failed to properly consider the evidence that had been obtained.

"They placed great reliance upon evidence from an anonymous witness who said that [Ms Mayes] had riled others without obtaining more detail as to what was said.

"Consequently, [The Carrbridge Centre] was left with a reasonable conclusion that [Ms Mayes] had attended a public meeting in a local public house where individuals were plotting against [The Carrbridge Centre] or may have spoken but with no real idea of what had been said or meaningful evidence describing the gist of what had been said."

She also complained of dismissal arising from making a protected disclosure but that was not upheld at the tribunal.

She has now been awarded £2,160.81 for the unfair dismissal.