A BOTCHED investigation into an anonymous letter concerning three Vauxhall Ellesmere Port workers led to them being unfairly dismissed, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Brothers Kevin and Stuart Flanagan, along with Andrew Rothery, had brought the claim against their unfair dismissal from December 2018 to an Employment Tribunal led by employment judge Shotter, which took place over several days in August-October this year in Liverpool. The judgment has recently been posted.

It found that, after the trio were accused of "intimidating other people not to work overtime within the maintenance group" in an anonymous letter delivered to the Vauxhall plant's personnel manager, a "fundamentally flawed" and "biased" investigation subsequently took place. The tribunal panel found there was insufficient evidence collated to proceed with an investigation, let alone dismiss the three men for gross misconduct, but the employees were made redundant.

The panel heard the three men had all begun working for Vauxhall in the 1990s, with Kevin Flanagan in particular noted as "an ambassador for the respondent with an excellent employment record", while Andrew Rothery volunteered for overtime on a regular basis and Stuart Flanagan given "exemplary appraisals".

It was accepted the three were "vocal and loud" in the workplace, with Mr Rothery giving some colleagues consensual 'naked birthday hugs', which were in effect half-naked hugs as he always wore underpants and/or cycling shorts. Nobody had complained about this until it was noted – incorrectly, in the panel's view – as one of the reasons for his dismissal in a January 2019 appeal hearing.

The cause for concern arose in June 2018, when the plant sought volunteers to work overtime at the weekends. Unite the Union said a sufficient number of volunteers had been found – 24 – for the weekend of June 30/July 1. None of the three claimants put themselves down to work that weekend, with the Flanagan brothers not scheduled to work on June 29 or July 2.

However, on June 28, plant director Mark Noble put out an announcement that maintenance staff would be taking on "autonomous maintenance roles", an announcement that went down badly with staff and, as a result, many employees took their names off the overtime list, leaving only eight maintenance staff on that weekend.

As a result, the knock-on effect was production was reduced by 326 cars, as up to 600 Vauxhall workers were sent home due to problems experienced that weekend when productivity came to a halt as a result of the Body Shop workers refusing to turn up and work the agreed overtime, the panel heard.

The panel concluded "managers were panicking following the weekend that had caused so much damage commercially", particularly in the context of the plant being in the hands of new owners PSA (now Stellantis).

On July 2, the anonymous letter was sent in which the writer, signed 'Proud worried Vauxhall worker' was "really afraid the plant might close" and named the three men claimed to be "leading the intimidation" and "bullying in the Body Shop". Although the claimants alleged who had written the letter, the panel concluded their allegations were without basis and there was no way of knowing who had written it, other than the writer themselves.

The claimants said they had been originally unfairly targeted by Vauxhall following what was known as the "101 issues meeting" in September 2016, where a list of 100+ issues had been raised with the car manufacturer by staff on workplace problems. The list was anonymously collated and the Flanagan brothers attended one of the meetings in relation to it. The panel found there was "no satisfactory evidence", prior to June 2018, of the three men being targeted by the car firm.

But the investigation into the anonymous letter was "inadequate" and "fundamentally flawed both at investigation and disciplinary stage, and this was not corrected on appeal", the panel ruled. The investigator did not interview any of the workers who had put their name down for overtime on June 30/July 1 but subsequently removed them, despite this information being readily available. The panel found "numerous employees" had come forward "confirming the claimants did not intimidate and were not bullies", and had not taken into context the June 28 announcement.

The plant was also criticised for the time the disciplinary procedure took, notwithstanding the three-week shutdown in July 2018.

The panel concluded the three men were unfairly dismissed. Other claims brought against Vauxhall, including for automatic unfair dismissal and trade union detriment, were dismissed.

Following the panel's judgment, the three men were subsequently entitled to a remedy hearing.