Dundee University unfairly dismissed an electrician and discriminated against him on grounds of his disability.
In a judgment published on Tuesday, an employment tribunal in Dundee found in favour of 51-year-old Andrew Gibson in his marathon case against the higher education institution.
The university denied the claims and said dismissal was for another substantial reason the breakdown in relationships between Mr Gibson and his colleagues which prevented him from returning to his job after a period of absence.
The hearing, which took place over 25 days, heard that Mr Gibson suffered from psychological illness which manifested itself in low mood and anxiety, and he was a disabled person under Disability Discrimination and Equality legislation.
He worked at the university for 12 years until 2010, for the first four years on a self-employed basis.
The 121-page judgment explained that he had spells of absence owing to breakdowns and depression, and referred to various disagreements with his colleagues in the estates section.
Mr Gibson became a health and safety representative and on one occasion he didn’t think his foreman had taken sufficient action over a particular matter.
He also complained of being left feeling frustrated and isolated because of the way matters were dealt with, but he took the option of pursuing an informal grievance instead of a formal one.
In 2006, the university decided to offer two promoted posts in Mr Gibson’s department. He was one of three people who applied for the jobs but was unsuccessful because it was felt he lacked interpersonal and management skills.
His foreman was given the task of informing the applicants of the outcome of the interviews but did not notify Mr Gibson, an omission for which the foreman later apologised.
Mr Gibson pursued the matter and the tribunal judge Ian McFatridge noted that the facilities manager had made the ”throwaway comment that he had seen the claimant’s personnel file and it was bigger than anyone else’s in the estates section”.
The judge said it was not uncommon that an employee with health difficulties could be difficult to manage and could be less popular with managers than other employees.
Mr Gibson’s superiors did find him difficult to manage for a number of years prior to his dismissal, but did not approach senior management from the university’s human resources department.
By the time of his dismissal and he had not been at work for about two years he had not become more difficult and he was successfully receiving counselling.
There had also been some improvement in his mental health.
The judge said that when they dismissed him, the university had erroneously and unreasonably formed the view that there had been a breakdown in relations between Mr Gibson and his work colleagues.
A remedy hearing to decide how to address Mr Gibson’s unfair dismissal and disability discrimination will be held at a later date.
Mr Gibson said he would like to return to his job at the university.