A woman who took the bosses of a charity cafe in Lanarkshire to an employment tribunal over accusations she was discriminated against and victimised has had her claim thrown out.
Natalie Barnett threatened to "destroy" Windmills Cafe after she was accused of breaking the charity's child protection rules by befriending a youngster on social media. The Motherwell cafe provides training for disabled and vulnerable young people to help them into employment.
Barnett, who suffers from MS, accused her former employee of breaching "current disability legislation" before taking them to an employment tribunal over claims that she was sacked as an act of "victimisation".
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She also accused her former manager of "post-employment victimisation" after an altercation in a local Greggs which saw her being branded a "fat beast" who was "trying to take the charity down".
Barnett became a volunteer with the Motherwell cafe in October 2018 and worked as a "front of house" assisting the trainees. Despite suffering from MS, she told the project supervisor that she didn't require any adjustments. A month later, she said she would need help with some tasks including mopping the floor and carrying items on a tray.
Cafe manager Alison Marcella had given Barnett the opportunity to work in the cafe as she was married to the kitchen manager. But after another member of staff joined, she was warned that her new employee had been "bad-mouthing" her, the cafe, and the trainees.
The concerned manager then decided that she would have to find a way to remove Barnett from her role to 'protect the cafe'.
In April 2019, Ms Marcella was made aware that Barnett had accepted a trainee as a friend on Facebook. The issue was raised as a general point in a staff meeting, with no direct reference to her personally.
During the meeting, Barnett stated that she felt everything at the meeting had been 'directed at her' because her husband had recently resigned and that she was going to leave too.
The employment tribunal was told that she then started "started shouting, swearing, and ranting about Ms Marcella "daring to talk about confidentiality", saying she could "ram (her) f***** job up (her) arse”, that Ms Marcella thought she was “so f****** smart'" but the Barnett "was going to come after her, destroy her, destroy the cafe" and that she was going to take Marcella “all the f***** way" and that she was “going to the f***** top”.
The disturbance was reported to the police and led to Barnett being arrested but the case was thrown out in court. Barnett's employment was terminated following her behaviour at that meeting.
Relations between the two further soured following Barnett leaving the charity. As well as the incident in the Greggs, she made several complaints about her former manager to The Big Lottery and the Scottish Charity Regulator.
Barnett's mum had also contacted North and South Lanarkshire schools challenging the fitness of Ms Marcella to be involved with children.
Employment judge Wiseman concluded that Barnett had not been subjected to victimisation and that Ms Marcella had acted out 'disgust' at her seeking to destroy the charity. It was added that the reason Ms Marcella reported the matter to the Police was because she was motivated to protect the charity from the threat to destroy it and she acted on legal advice to do so.
It was decided that there was no proof that she had been subjected to victimisation and the claim was thrown out.
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