A former employee of a well-known island bike dealership has won a constructive dismissal claim against them.
Stephen Hodgson who worked for the Victoria Road branch of Padgetts in Douglas was awarded £26,000 in damages by the employment tribunal which ruled on his case recently.
Mr Hodgson, who is 56 and hails originally from Wigan, worked for the island shop for 12 years before leaving in May last year.
The tribunal upheld his claim which listed a number of instances of unfair treatment.
Mr Hodgson said he had traditionally taken holidays during TT and MGP because other staff were available for cover then. But he said time he had booked off for the TT period in 2012 was denied at the last minute. He claimed Don Padgett had made ‘hurtful and unwarranted’ comments about his personal life and he complained use of a company van had been withdrawn and his working hours and pay reduced without consultation or notice.
He said Don Padgett told him he was ‘too old to do his job, too old to have kids and too old to raise a family’.
The tribunal heard matters had culminated in a row over Mr Hodgson’s leave in May last year and he had walked out. The judgment said: ‘It is clear that this was the final straw only and for some considerable time the respondent’s (Padgett’s) directors and staff had treated the claimant extremely poorly.
‘There had been repeated nasty comments about the claimant’s home life, his partner and children.’
Mr Hodgson also told the tribunal he had been told by his employers he had to perform pre-delivery checks on new bikes they sold, but he had refused because he said he was not appropriately qualified to do it.
On one occasion sections of the asbestos roof at the garage premises in Victoria Road, Douglas had fallen in and Mr Hodgson had been ordered to clear this up.
The tribunal found there had been unlawful deductions to Mr Hodgson’s wages and there had been injury to his feelings but it said withdrawal of the van in exchange for a motorcycle and some extra money was reasonable.
Clive Padgett said: ‘It’s water under the bridge. We had been friends for 30 years and it’s a shame it came to that. There’s no bad feeling and we wish him well.’