A Brechin girl was sacked by a fish and chip shop after she asked for holiday pay for the part-time job she had been doing for four years.
Kelly Smith, who is now 18, was told by proprietor Fraser Stark of City Chips that if she pressed her case she would be replaced by a 14-year-old who would not need to be paid as much as she was receiving.
Kelly took Mr Stark, whose shop is in Montrose Road, Brechin, to an employment tribunal, who unanimously found in her favour.
In a judgment published on Thursday, the panel ordered Mr Stark to pay over £4,000 to the former Brechin High School pupil, who is now studying nursing at Abertay University in Dundee.
They ruled that City Chips should pay her £66.94 for outstanding wages and holiday pay; £2,059.73 in compensation for her unfair dismissal and £2,000 because she was unlawfully discriminated against because of her age.
Kelly said: ”I am delighted that I won the case. I knew what I was entitled to but when I asked him he tried to laugh it off. He sacked me and even put a sign up in his shop advertising for a 14-year-old to replace me.
”I knew he was in the wrong so I took him to a tribunal. He’ll have to pay me over £4,000 and he got what he deserves.”
Kelly went to work at City Chips when she was 13 for an average of 12.5 hours a week, earning about £4.50 an hour. Mr Stark took over the business when she was 15 and after she turned 16 she became aware she was entitled to holiday pay.
”I actually asked him at that point and he laughed it off but I didn’t want to take it further as I liked my job and didn’t want to lose it,” she said. ”Then, when I turned 17, I thought ‘no, this is wrong that I’m not getting holiday pay’ so I asked him again.
”Again he thought what I saw saying was hilarious. He just didn’t take me seriously and said if I went on about it he would sack me and get someone younger who he could pay less than the minimum wage.
”This was at the start of last year and he did sack me. I was older then and thought he shouldn’t get away with it, so I took it further and went to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau who were very helpful to me.”
”I took a photograph of the notice he had in the shop window advertising for a 14-year-old and showed it to the tribunal.
”I never got a pay slip from him and didn’t have a contract of employment. When I asked him about this he said he didn’t have to give me a contract because I was a schoolgirl but that’s not right.”
Mr Stark said: ”I have no comment to make.”
Under employment legislation, all workers are entitled to holiday pay after they turn 16, with part-time workers’ entitlement calculated on the basis of their weekly hours.
Employees also can’t be discriminated against because of their age.