An Angus charity has been left in financial ruin after being accused of fighting an ‘unwinnable’ battle against a former employee.
Arbroath Town Mission’s perilous financial situation was laid bare following its unsuccessful defence of an unfair dismissal claim lodged by former manager Wilma Swankie which was said to have had “no reasonable prospect of success”.
The charity has been losing around £140,000-160,000 per annum over the past two years and the unfair dismissal claim has now cost it a further £100,000.
Arbroath Town Mission paid around £60,000 in legal fees to their own agents following the employment tribunal which took place over a total of 19 days spread over a period of more than a year between 2018 and 2019.
Miss Swankie was eventually awarded £19,298 for unfair dismissal at its conclusion.
The five-figure sum has now been paid following a loan received from an anonymous well-wisher and the charity has since agreed to sell off its car park to a local garage for £10,000 which will go towards part-repayment of the loan.
The disastrous impact on the charity was outlined in a damning judgement which has just been released after Miss Swankie was awarded a further £20,000 towards the cost of her expenses.
It said the Town Mission has now ceased practically all of its operations apart from the church in the wake of the case.
All staff apart from the pastor have also been made redundant after just £3,000 was left in the bank.
The premises, worth £235,000, was also put up for sale.
In his judgement, employment judge Ian McFatridge blamed the charity for being the architects of their own downfall.
He said: “What is highly relevant in the view of the tribunal was that it must have been obvious to the respondent from the moment the claim was lodged that they would be highly unlikely to successfully defend this.
“The tribunal’s view was that it would have been clear to a reasonable employer from the outset that the respondent had no reasonable prospect of success.
“The tribunal were also of the view that the respondent’s witnesses were aware of this fact and that this was the primary driver behind the scandalous and unreasonable conduct of the case.”
Mr McFatridge said witnesses Moira Milton, Derek Marshall and Andrew Inglis “prevaricated in answering questions” because “they knew that if the true facts came out they would certainly lose their case”.
Miss Swankie, who had been employed at the mission since 1987, took legal action after claiming she was fired in July 2017 for going to the charity regulator and making protected “whistleblowing” disclosures.
She believed the mission was acting illegally in excluding people from becoming members if they did not regularly attend church.
Town Mission solicitor John Macmillan said the charity would require to pay back the loan from the well-wisher from the sale of the premises and hoped to be in a position to purchase a smaller premises from what was left from the proceeds.
Arbroath Town Mission, which is located at the corner of Wardmill Road and Guthrie Port, started in 1830.
