Worker sues after leaving card hidden from her as only three people signed it
A WOMAN sued after not getting a leaving card — but it had been hidden from her as only three people signed it.
Karen Conaghan claimed the “failure to acknowledge her existence” was a breach of equality laws.
But her colleague Shahid Aziz told an employment tribunal he had bought a card when Ms Conaghan was made redundant in December 2021, but managed to get only three signatures.
Employment Judge Kevin Palmer said: “He believed it would have been more insulting to give her the card than not to give her a card at all.”
The tribunal heard two men also laid off during “restructuring” did not get cards either.
The “snub” was one of 40 complaints made by Ms Conaghan — business liaison lead for airline group IAG GBS — claiming sexual harassment, victimisation and unfair dismissal.
In one, she said a colleague had copied her use of the word “whiz” in a card for a co- worker but corrected her spelling, by writing “whizz” instead.
And she said another employee had asked her: “Are you taking the p**s, Karen?”
But the tribunal said this was after Ms Conaghan suggested she had “done all of the hard work” and it was his “turn to do some”.
It was also heard Ms Conaghan moved to Richmond, North Yorks, in September 2021 despite it being expected all employees live within two hours of their office in Heathrow.
All Ms Conaghan’s complaints were dismissed with the panel ruling she had adopted a conspiracy theory mentality in which she mistook normal workplace interactions for something more sinister.