A vet in Cornwall has won his unfair dismissal case against a Cornish animal charity. Matthew Thomas was dismissed by the Cornwall Animal Ambulance and Hospital Charity, which cited breach of trust as the reason for dismissal. This came after Thomas circulated a Charity Commission letter among the charity’s trustees which said some trustees had been wrongly removed. He was sacked thereafter.
The employment law tribunal heard that Mr Thomas was unfairly let go for making the disclosures. The claimant went on to explain that he had been assured that the removal of trustees was not illegal by the executive trustee’s chair Jenny Jarram, secretary Pat Holloway and treasurer Trevor Chalker.
The Charity Commission was already in the process of investigating the Cornwall Animal Ambulance and Hospital Charity before the controversy of Mr Thomas’s dismissal. Mr Thomas said that it was not long after joining the organisation that he discovered that the Charity Commission had not agreed with the removal of former trustees, and when Mr Thomas pursued the matter he was threatened by Chalker to ignore the commission or face the sack.
“Phrases along the lines of ‘if this information is spread to anyone else then you may be called in for disciplinary action’ [were uttered].
“It was quite clear if you circulate these emails you may lose your job.”
Mr Thomas contacted the six Trustees he believed to be those stuck off and was dismissed shortly afterward. But My Chalker claims he had been happy for Mr Chalker to speak to the commission.
He said: “We as the trustees acted in the best interest of the charity throughout this whole affair.
“As far as we’re concerned reporting the matter to the radio and screaming it from the roof tops has only one end result, which basically can cause great damage and harm to the charity, which we as the trustees certainly don’t want to see happen.”