A north-east beauty clinic has been ordered to pay a sacked nurse more than £7,000 after being sued for wrongful dismissal.
Temple Medical Ltd, which is owned and run by Sam Robson in Aberdeen, has been told to pay Karen Urquhart £7,296 after accusing her of fraud and firing her following an employment tribunal.
The company denied unfairly or wrongfully dismissing Mrs Urquhart and claimed she had committed “an act of gross misconduct” by falsifying a contract.
This was following an update Mrs Urquhart made to her contract in 2016, changing her title to clinical director and increasing her pay from £25 to £3o per hour.
The tribunal heard that Dr Robson denied ever seeing or approving the change after Mrs Urquhart claimed she was being underpaid in 2019.
Dr Robson sacked Mrs Urquhart following disciplinary hearings and an investigation on the basis that she had committed fraud.
The dismissal occurred when Mrs Urquhart was already working her notice.
As well as this, Temple Medical deducted more than £3,000 from her wages and said Mrs Urquhart had been overpaid and taken more than her holiday allowance.
The firm also denied any holiday pay was due.
Dr Robson then reported her to the Nursing and Midwifery Council and police, but no further action was taken following an interview.
The employment tribunal found that this had been a “vindictive act” by the company.
The panel found that although it is possible for dates and information on digital documents to be altered, there had been no investigation by the company to check the contract and there was no “direct evidence” that Mrs Urquhart had made up the increase and backdated her contract.
In his decision, tribunal judge James Hendry said: “These circumstances do not reflect well on the respondent company or on its managers.”
Dr Robson, a GP who has been practising aesthetic medicine since 2004, said she was “clearly disappointed” by the outcome of the action and insisted the “close-knit team” takes “good care of employees”.
She added: “We were disappointed when we realised there was an issue with Ms Urquhart and immediately consulted our external HR and employment law company, Law at Work, which independently managed the procedure and advised on all investigations.
“Their recommendation was to discipline and subsequently dismiss her, which we followed thoroughly.
“Unfortunately, the tribunal concluded that there had been procedural problems in the process of Ms Urquhart’s dismissal, not that the main reason for her dismissal was in error. We are now discussing the possibility of an appeal with our solicitor.”
