BT worker sacked over customer call was unfairly dismissed

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A BT worker who was sacked because of the way he handled a customer call has won £15,000 in compensation.

Colin Shepherd, who worked as a business billing adviser, was dismissed despite an unblemished work record dating back 22 years after he argued with a customer

An employment tribunal heard he had been diagnosed with depression following the sudden death of his father a few months earlier, but despite his personal trauma BT decided his manner during the call brought the company into "serious disrepute".

Mr Shepherd, 51, of Cambuslang, near Glasgow, was awarded a total of £15,410 after an employment tribunal ruled that the incident was "out of character" and should not have led to instant dismissal.

The hearing was told how Mr Shepherd was rated as one of the top 20 advisors at BT, where the majority of his working day at his office in Glasgow was spent on the phone. Last September he dealt with a customer who became "frustrated" after being transferred to the wrong department.

The fed-up caller eventually said he was going to lodge a complaint about Mr Shepherd - who replied he would do the same against the customer. Mr Shepherd was later hauled into a meeting with his line manager Tracey Scally and accepted he had "probably not" dealt with the call correctly

He was fired following a disciplinary hearing after it was claimed he had "brought BT into serious disrepute". Mr Shepherd told the tribunal he accepted the call had not been handled in the best way, but he did not think his sacking was reasonable as he had no adverse disciplinary record.

In a written judgement, a panel unanimously found Mr Shepherd had been unfairly dismissed .Employment judge Robert Gall said: "The tribunal was quite clear in its view that in the particular circumstances of this case the dismissal was unfair on the basis that no reasonable employer would have dismissed the claimant.

"It was clear that the behaviour of the claimant on 8 September 2010 was out of character given his track record over the preceding year."