A Purfleet nursery and pre-school group which owed Thurrock Council £6,000 has been told by a judge to pay an unfairly dismissed employee nearly £2,000.
Jade Harding has been awarded £1,872 after making legal claims against A Stars Nursery and Pre-School at the Old Baptist Church hall in London Road, Purfleet.
The sum was awarded for breach of contract and unfair dismissal against her former employers.
Her claims were heard at an East London Employment Tribunal hearing last month when tribunal judge John Pritchard said he would announce his decision at at a later date.
He announced a decision in the claimant’s favour last week.
Ms Harding joined the group in December 2013 and was eventually paid £8.30 an hour.
The judge’s report said that the tribunal was told about 15 children attended the nursery with ages ranging from two to five, and that the business was “not very profitable”.
Thurrock Council made recommendations to the group and was owed £6,000 and Ms Harding eventually became sick with stress after complaining about the pressure of her manager’s role, said the report.
At one stage she was said to have come back to work from sick leave to save the group from closure but complained she had no time to attend a council initiative about grading involving two-year-olds because of her workload.
Ms Harding complained about insufficient staff being recruited said she had to put in extra hours at the nursery and at home.
The report said the tribunal had been told that Ms Harding started introducing several new staff members and became part of a network of mothers at the local school but she was not happy continuing in her role.
She also complained of “lost loyalty” by her employer who had accused her of taking unauthorised absence.
Meanwhile, Ofsted’s rating of the group had moved from “inadequate” to “good”, it was said.
Miss Harding was eventually told her employment was coming to an end and that the preschool was closing.
Mr Pritchard said: “There was no consultation or fair procedure adopted therefore a finding of of unfair dismissal if inevitable.”
The £1,872 award included £1,158 notice pay and £713 redundancy.
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