British-Nigerian woman wins six-figure payout against her employer

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