In McMahon v Heron Financial Limited, Helen McMahon was employed as a New Build and Mortgage Protection Adviser and had worked for the employer for less than two years. She emailed her managers about commission payments she believed she should have received but which hadn’t been paid to her. She then took two weeks off due to illness, after which she called a meeting with her manager. She raised that she was working more than an average of 48 hours a week, that it was stressing her out and that she wanted somehow to reduce her hours.
But days later Ms McMahon was fired for “always moaning”. Her managers claimed she was dismissed due to poor performance, despite the fact she had been awarded a bottle of champagne some months before and had recorded almost double the number of lending applications of one of her colleagues.
But judge Sarah King said: “This was a small business and the directors discussed matters regularly. It is clear that during the meeting Mrs McMahon asserted a number of statutory rights.”
She ruled the sacking was unfair and awarded Mrs McMahon £20,000 for the dismissal plus £3,500 for unlawful wage deduction, unpaid commission, sick pay and wrongful dismissal.
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