Search
Close this search box.

Nursery worker wins unfair dismissal claim despite teaching children to kick colleague

In Flynn v Tender Loving Child Care Centre Limited a nursery worker, Siobhan Flynn was fired after carer Laura McLauchlan complained about her. Miss Flynn was said to have taught kids how to kick while telling them ‘kick Laura, kick Laura’ and throughout the day repeatedly encouraged them to say ‘smelly Laura’.
legal challenges

In Flynn v Tender Loving Child Care Centre Limited a nursery worker, Siobhan Flynn was fired after carer Laura McLauchlan complained about her. Miss Flynn was said to have taught kids how to kick while telling them ‘kick Laura, kick Laura’ and throughout the day repeatedly encouraged them to say ‘smelly Laura’.

She also said that Flynn had made remarks about her personal life and relationships, had called her “gay” while discussing football and said she was a “Hun” – a Scottish slur used towards Protestants and fans of the Rangers football team.

Ms McLauchlan, an experienced early years nursery worker, claimed that Miss Flynn ‘was annoyed that one of the children could say my name first’. Flynn denied encouraging the children to kick McLauchlan and call her names, and said she was “lying”.

Flynn was invited to a disciplinary meeting. Following the meeting Flynn was dismissed for misconduct. In dismissing Miss Flynn – who worked at Tender Loving Childcare in Glasgow for 11 years – director Mary Deighan claimed her behaviour was ‘sadistic’.

However, an employment tribunal in Scotland has now ruled that Miss Flynn was unfairly dismissed as a reasonable investigation was not carried out.

Flynn was awarded £16,984.30 in compensation, but this was reduced by 75 per cent to  £4,246.08 as it was likely she would have been dismissed in any event had a fair process been followed.

Read more

Latest News

Read More

Expert tips for spring cleaning CV and career

29 March 2024

Newsletter

Receive the latest HR news and strategic content

Please note, as per the GDPR Legislation, we need to ensure you are ‘Opted In’ to receive updates from ‘theHRDIRECTOR’. We will NEVER sell, rent, share or give away your data to third parties. We only use it to send information about our products and updates within the HR space To see our Privacy Policy – click here

Latest HR Jobs

University of Warwick – WMGSalary: £23,144 to £25,138 per annum This provides summary information and comment on the subject areas covered. Where employment tribunal and

The Open University – People ServicesSalary: £57,696 to £64,914 + up to £8,000 per annum MRP supplement* This provides summary information and comment on the

Cardiff UniversitySalary: Competitive This provides summary information and comment on the subject areas covered. Where employment tribunal and appellate court cases are reported, the information

University of Oxford – Oxford Department of International DevelopmentSalary: £28,759 to £33,966 (Grade 5) This provides summary information and comment on the subject areas covered.

Read the latest digital issue of theHRDIRECTOR for FREE

Read the latest digital issue of theHRDIRECTOR for FREE