A Dundee City Council employee has lost his disability discrimination claim against the local authority, with an employment tribunal ruling he was “clearly not an easy employee to manage”.
Alexander Banks was prepared to make serious allegations about other members of staff on the basis of very little evidence.
He accused a colleague of vandalising his car and involved the police in the episode but there was no real evidence to support his claim.
He made extremely serious allegations against his line manager in the property division, which were not evidenced by anything apart from his own statement.
The tribunal, chaired by judge Ian McFatridge, said there were no facts to suggest the line manager had treated him unfavourably because of his disability.
Mr Banks had previously led an active life and been a soldier in the Territorial Army, and when he fell ill in 2010 with a heart condition he went within a few weeks from someone in robust good health to someone who could carry out only limited physical activity.
This coincided with a period of change at his work when he was moved to another department after the service he had built up went into decline.
He also had a new manager with whom he was unfamiliar, and the tribunal had no doubt Mr Banks found all of these matters stressful at the time of the onset of his life-changing medical condition.
The tribunal sympathised with him but ruled he had not been unlawfully discriminated against because of his disability.
Mr Banks complained of being discriminated against on grounds of disability, alleging that he was denied work, training and appropriate equipment to do his job.
He submitted a formal grievance against the council for the way in which he believed he had been treated, but this was rejected after an investigation.
The tribunal, which heard evidence in the case over seven days up to June this year, noted that he has since been transferred to another department where he is happy.