Manager who was ‘distraught’ and took two weeks off as a result of her workplace furnishings had been moved wins £5,000 payout

A transport manager who took two weeks off work in distress after her office furniture was rearranged has won almost £5,000 in a payout.

Susanne Campbell stormed out of the office when furniture was reshuffled and demanded that an investigation take place into the move.

But during the course of the investigation it emerged that Ms Campbell herself had been accused of bullying her colleagues. 

This included calling one office worker, whom she had accused of moving the furniture, a ‘f***ing part-timer’, a ‘cow’, ‘Little Miss Perfect’, and a ‘jobsworth’. 

She was dismissed for gross misconduct.

Ms Campbell was told she was and would remain in the loop for any future furniture decisions.

She sued her former employers but her claim of unfair dismissal ultimately failed.

However, her wrongful dismissal claim succeeded because she was not given ten weeks’ notice when she was let go.

She has now won £4,950 at a Glasgow employment tribunal.

Ms Campbell became Transport Co-ordinator at Booker Direct Limited, a company that ‘operates a large-scale food storage and distribution network’ in Scotland, in May 2015.

She was based at the Larbert depot in Falkirk, and her role ‘involved managing daily transport operations, ensuring compliance, scheduling, driver support and record keeping’.

Her salary was £30,865 per year.

Initially, Ms Campbell worked in an office alone, but in 2023 she was asked to share a space with an admin worker and a driver trainer.

On February 5, 2025, she discovered that the furniture and equipment in the office she shared with the administrator and the driver trainer had been moved around.

While she was aware of ongoing discussions about reconfiguring the office, she had not agreed to any proposals and was unaware that any changes would take place. 

The manager was not happy with the new configuration, the tribunal heard.

It was heard Ms Campbell was, ‘as she herself acknowledges, fuming’.

She raised concerns with her manager when he arrived at 7am. He then went to his own office.

The tribunal heard: ‘[Ms Campbell] then became upset – she stated in evidence that she was “emotional, distraught and disgusted” – and subsequently left work, without reporting to anyone that she was doing so.

‘She then remained absent for over two weeks.’

Five days after she left, on February 10, Ms Campbell asked the warehouse manager, Melissa Kinahan, to investigate the furniture situation.

However, as Ms Kinahan investigated her claims, interviewing six of Ms Campbell’s colleagues, allegations arose against Ms Campbell herself and the warehouse manager decided to look into those too.

Ms Campbell was suspended while the claims were investigated.

On May 28, 2025, the investigation into Ms Campbell’s claims concluded.

She was told ‘that the office redesign was not finalised and [that she] had been, and would continue to be, involved in the process’.

But two days later, the investigation into the allegations Ms Campbell’s colleagues had made against her also concluded.

Its recommendation was that a disciplinary hearing be convened to consider ‘allegations of gross misconduct in respect of non-compliance with [Booker Direct’s] bullying and harassment policy, and misappropriation of charity funds’.

A disciplinary hearing began on June 16, 2025.

While the misappropriation of charity funds was thrown out, Ms Campbell was found to have been incredibly rude to her co-workers.

This included calling the administration worker a ‘f***ing part-timer’, a ‘cow’, ‘Little Miss Perfect’, ‘it’, ‘that’, a ‘jobsworth’ and stating that she is a waste of space and not good at her job.

She also called the driver trainer’s job a ‘f***ing joke’, before walking out of the office.

Her behaviour was found to be bullying and harassment, which was gross misconduct at the transport company and breached its zero tolerance policy.

A decision was made to dismiss the transport co-ordinator and she was informed on August 5, 2025.

She appealed but the decision was upheld, so she took the company to an employment tribunal in Glasgow alleging that she had been unfairly and wrongly dismissed.

But while Employment Judge Melanie Sangster found she had been fairly dismissed, she found that the company had not followed proper procedure because it had not given her ten weeks’ notice.

EJ Sangster said: ‘[Ms Campbell] was given the opportunity to respond to the allegations at the disciplinary hearing and was provided with the opportunity to appeal.

‘[The company] followed their internal procedures. The Tribunal found that the procedure adopted… was fair and reasonable in the circumstances.

‘[But] the Tribunal’s approach in relation to a wrongful dismissal complaint is not the same as in a complaint of unfair dismissal.

‘It is not sufficient for the employer to demonstrate a reasonable belief that the employee was guilty of gross misconduct.

‘They must establish that [Ms Campbell] did, in fact, commit a repudiatory breach of contract entitling them to summarily dismiss [Ms Campbell] from their employment.

‘The [company] did not lead sufficient evidence to demonstrate this. The Tribunal accordingly conclude that [Ms Campbell] was wrongfully dismissed.

‘[Ms Campbell] had a statutory minimum period of ten weeks’ notice from [Booker Direct], given her length of service.

‘Her net weekly pay, at the time her employment terminated, was £494.94. Accordingly, the Tribunal orders the [company] to pay to [Ms Campbell] the sum of £4,949.40, as damages for breach of contract.’