Not saying hello to a colleague could break law, says judge

Tribunal rules in favour of unfair dismissal case as boss’s lack of greeting ‘likely’ to ‘undermine confidence’ of employee

Not saying hello to a colleague could break employment laws, a tribunal has suggested.
The ruling came in the case of a recruitment manager who won an unfair dismissal claim after complaining that her managing director refused to say hello to her.
Nadine Hanson had greeted Andrew Gilchrist, her new boss, three times when she arrived for work in September 2023 but was deliberately ignored every time, the employment tribunal heard.
Mr Gilchrist, 62, was angry at Ms Hanson because he thought she was late when in fact she had been at a medical appointment.
Ms Hanson won her claim and Employment Judge Sarah Davies concluded that his behaviour was “unreasonable”.
“That is conduct, from the owner and director of the new employer, that is calculated or likely to undermine trust and confidence,” she said. “While it might not, by itself, be a fundamental breach of contract, it was capable of contributing to such a breach.”
Mr Gilchrist had just taken over as managing director of Interaction Recruitment, which had 30 offices in England at the time. The firm had acquired another recruitment company, which was not named in proceedings, where Ms Hanson was northern regional operations manager.
Mr Gilchrist travelled to Scunthorpe, in Lincs, to meet Ms Hanson and two employees who she managed. The tribunal, in Leeds, found that after a “get to know you” meeting of less than an hour, Mr Gilchrist formed an unwarranted “snap judgment” of Ms Hanson that she was not pulling her weight.
Days later, he made an unannounced visit to the firm’s offices in the town and arrived before Ms Hanson, who was at an appointment.
“It was a busy day because they had arranged for a number of candidates to come in and be interviewed,” the tribunal judgment said. “There were about eight candidates filling in forms when [she] arrived. [Ms Hanson’s] evidence is that she said good morning to Mr Gilchrist three times, but he ignored her.”
Mr Gilchrist claimed at the tribunal that he “could not remember” whether he said hello because it was busy, but said he believed that he said “hello to everyone”. The tribunal found his evidence to be “wholly unconvincing”.
Mr Gilchrist then told Ms Hanson to go into a meeting room, where he pushed her phone out of the way as she attempted to show him proof of her appointment.
“He said, ‘I suggest if you don’t want to be here that you leave’,” the tribunal report continued. “She replied that ‘after 20 years of working for the company, the only way I will be leaving is if you make me redundant’.”
The tribunal heard that within an hour of the meeting, Mr Gilchrist sent an email to her two direct reports giving them a pay rise.
Ms Hanson said she was “humiliated” because she was not informed. In October 2023, Ms Hanson handed in her eight-week notice, saying she had been made to feel “undervalued”.
She was signed off work with anxiety during her notice period because of how she was treated by Mr Gilchrist. But he withheld her sick pay because he thought she was faking it.
Judge Davies ruled in favour of her claims of unfair dismissal and unauthorised deduction of pay. She said it was “implausible” that Mr Gilchrist did not hear Ms Hanson’s greeting and that he “deliberately” ignored her before launching “straight into criticism” of her.
“When she told him that the only way she was going was if she was made redundant, he determined that she had no future with the business,” she said. “That is why he offered pay rises to her staff members within an hour and without discussing it with her.
“The situation was not that urgent … He simply did not want [Ms Hanson] there any more.”
Ms Hanson is now in line to receive compensation from Interaction Recruitment. The amount will be determined at a later date.