Wiltshire Council confirms appeal against employment tribunal judgement

Wiltshire Council is appealing a tribunal ruling that deemed an email from CEO Terence Herbert “unlawful.” The email, related to a dispute over removing out-of-hours pay enhancements, was allegedly intended to deter industrial action. Herbert claims it aimed to correct misinformation from GMB union.
empty church pews

Wiltshire Council is launching an appeal against a recent employment tribunal judgement, which declared an email sent by its CEO as “unlawful.”

The email in question, sent by Terence Herbert in November 2022, was related to a long-running dispute in which Wiltshire Council is seeking to remove contractual out-of-hours pay enhancements.

GMB, the union for Wiltshire Council staff, claim the correspondence was intended to deter its traffic wardens from voting in industrial action.

Herbert, who is preparing to transition from Wiltshire Council to Surrey County Council, maintains that he was trying to correct “misleading” statements from GMB.

He said: “We haven’t made the decision to appeal lightly, but after carefully considering legal advice, we feel this is the correct course of action.

“We have always believed our position in this case was strong and that the email at the heart of this issue was intended to correct inaccurate information and reassure staff that the council was working to resolve this as swiftly as possible, as our priority throughout has been, and remains, the wellbeing of our staff.

“This appeal does not change our focus to resolve the terms and conditions issue as quickly and fairly as possible. Given this is now an ongoing case, it would be inappropriate to make further comments at this stage.”

He described the pay policies, which Wiltshire Council is seeking to change, as “historical” and “no longer fit for purpose.”

In March 2024, Bristol Employment Tribunal found that the staff who received the email “were subjected to a detriment on grounds related to union activities”, a conclusion which Wiltshire Council is now disputing.

Read more

Latest News

Read More

The Quantum Release Method: An instant game-changer for high-performing leaders

3 October 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 OxfordSalary: £30,259 to £35,466 with a discretionary range to £38,599 per annum (pro-rata) This provides summary information and comment on the subject areas

Lead and manage a HR team, including HR Manager, HR Generalist and HR Coordinator in the UK and Singapore. We are looking for a HR

The HR Director for Business Partnering leads a team of 225 people to provide partnering and HR Advice and Guidance services in support of our

SOAS University of London – Human Resources DirectorateSalary: £42,717 to £49,281. Grade 7, per annum (inclusive of London Allowance) This provides summary information and comment

Read the latest digital issue of theHRDIRECTOR for FREE

Read the latest digital issue of theHRDIRECTOR for FREE