By Salma El-Sakka
A transport manager who was dismissed for bullying colleagues after a dispute over office furniture has been awarded nearly £5,000 for wrongful dismissal because her employer failed to give the required notice period.
Background
Susanne Campbell worked as a transport coordinator for Booker Direct Limited, a food storage and distribution company in Scotland, from May 2015. Based at the Larbert depot in Falkirk, she earned £30,865 annually. In 2023 she was asked to share an office with an administrator and a driver trainer. On 5 February 2025, she arrived to find the office furniture rearranged without her agreement, became enraged, and left work without informing anyone, remaining absent for over two weeks.
Investigation and Disciplinary Action
When Campbell asked a warehouse manager to investigate the furniture change, colleagues raised allegations against her. An investigation found she had bullied coworkers, calling the administrator a "f***ing part-timer", a "cow", "Little Miss Perfect", and a "jobsworth", and telling her she was a waste of space. She also called the driver trainer's job a "f***ing joke". A disciplinary hearing in June 2025 dismissed a claim of charity fund misappropriation but upheld the bullying allegations as gross misconduct. Campbell was dismissed on 5 August 2025.
Tribunal Ruling
At the Glasgow Employment Tribunal, Judge Melanie Sangster found the dismissal fair on conduct grounds but ruled it wrongful because Booker Direct did not give Campbell the statutory minimum 10 weeks' notice required by her length of service. The company followed internal procedures but failed to prove a repudiatory breach of contract justifying summary dismissal. Campbell's net weekly pay was £494.94, resulting in an award of £4,949.40 for breach of contract.
