Nose to nose in the snows
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WHEN A COAL LORRY driver was called to help a senior partner of the firm move a broken-down lorry in ice and snow, the boss said to him that he should try to move the broken-down lorry by pushing it nose-to-nose with his own lorry.
The driver, who had already offloaded 30cwt of coal from the broken-down lorry, disagreed because he thought it would damage the lorry, which had just been repaired. And when he mentioned that it was 1.45 and well beyond the end of his shift and he felt inclined to go home, the boss told him "Do that and don't bother to report for work on Monday."
He took this to mean that he was sacked and, although he was offered his job back on Monday, refused it.
The Industrial Tribunal in Edinburgh ruled that driver Ian McKinlay was not refusing a legitimate order from his boss James McCleod but expressing his own opinion.
It was unreasonable to dismiss on the spot an employee of nine years' standing for doing that and the court awarded him £491.63 compensation against his former employer John 0. Brotchie and Son, coal merchant, for constructive dismissal.