48 year old British-Nigerian woman, Ibukun Adebayo, who is a director
at one of Princess Diana's favourite charities, Turning Point has been
awarded a six-figure payout after her boss nicknamed her 'Looney
Tunes' and sent an obscene email.
According to UK Daily Mail, Mrs Adebayo won her religious and racial
bias claim against Turning Point, a drugs, alcohol and mental health
charity at East London Tribunal Service. She claimed she was unfairly
sacked from her £84,000 position as IT director at the charity by its
chief executive Lord Victor Adebowale.
The hearing was told that her boss David Hoare referred to her a
'Looney Tunes' in one email to Lord Adebowale and sent another work
email about a sex act. He was given a warning by Lord Adebowale, but
Mrs Adebayo a mother-of-five from Bexley was dismissed from her job
after she complained about Mr Hoare's gross misconduct.
Now she is seeking £466,815 in compensation for lost earnings and
hurt feelings but says that most of all she would like her job back.
Turning Point adopted Princess Diana as patron in 1985. She worked
for the charity until her death and was proud of the way it helped
vulnerable people deal with drug and alcohol misuse.
Mrs Adebayo joined the charity in June 2004 and managed over 20 IT
workers and a £1million-a-year budget at its central London office.
In 2011, Mr Hoare sent director of strategic projects Beverley Priest an
email about Mrs Adebayo and also wrote about a sex act.
In October 2012, Mr Adebowale emailed Mr Hoare about Mrs Adebayo
asking 'What have we unleashed...?!' Mr Hoare replied: 'Looney
tunes...'
Later that year, he sent emails poking fun at Mrs Adebayo's Christian
beliefs behind her back, saying she was praying 'in the wilderness'.
And he said a request for an interview with Mrs Adebayo should be
'killed' as they no longer wanted her as the face of the charity.
Mrs Adebayo was devastated to discover all these emails in April 2013
and complained about Mr Hoare. Mr Hoare received only a formal
warning for his gross misconduct.
But Lord Adebowale, 52, sacked Mrs Adebayo in August 2013 for
'hacking into staff emails'.
The tribunal ruled that any reasonable employer would have 'given
genuine and serious consideration' to firing Mr Hoare for gross
misconduct.
UK Daily Mail
Posted by Adebayo A J