Highland nursery whistleblower awarded £400k for losing job for concerns over autistic boy’s treatment as judge slams Inverness-based Care and Learning Alliance for issuing ‘warning’ to staff raising issues
A whistleblower “thrown to the wolves” after raising concerns about the treatment of an autistic boy at a Highland nursery has been awarded almost £400,000 after a long battle with her former employer.
Lindsay McNicholas worked for the Inverness-based Care and Learning Alliance (Cala) and Cala Staffbank, but her three decade career came to an end in 2018 when she was forced out.
An employment tribunal found she was forced to resign from Cala, dismissed from Cala Staffbank and reported to the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) as “a warning to anyone who raises genuine concerns.”
Ms McNicholas had raised concerns about the treatment of two autistic children, one of whom was shouted at and prevented from eating and drinking except at set times.
Both children were also left unattended for long periods.
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Tribunal judge James Hendry found: “There is no doubt that the claimant’s contact with [Highland Council officer, name redacted] drew what seemed to be a furious response from the school who concluded that all the allegations were false.”
Instead of addressing those concerns, Ms McNicholas became a target of Cala and Cala Staffbank despite those whistleblowing disclosures being protected in what appears to be a bid to “protect” the relationship with the council.
In accounting for its financial award, the tribunal said: “We concluded that there were exceptional features to the case and that in the claimant’s Counsel’s words the respondent’s staff had ‘stitched her up’ to protect their organisations’ relationship with Highland Council and to give evidence that they knew was untrue and exaggerated.”
Ms McNicholas was also referred to the GTCS and on that Mr Hendry said: “We have no doubt that there was a joint decision taken to make this referral and that it was not done in good faith but as a consequence of the disclosures made and as an attempt to pacify the (Highland) council and discredit the claimant’s observations of the practices she found at the nursery which we found wholly credible.”
The teaching watchdog’s probe lasted years and was only brought to an end after a challenge in the Court of Session.
He added: “Finally, we would observe that despite the statutory protections that exist for whistleblowers the situation that the claimant finds herself in is sadly not uncommon in the tribunal’s experience.
“It is a warning to anyone who raises genuine concerns. It is clear to us that the various parties involved reacted aggressively to the concerns that the claimant raised (involving as they did the proper care of vulnerable children) showing little regard to determining whether they were justified or not or seeking to learn from the situation that had developed and that in all this further the interests of Z [one of tthe autistic children] were lost sight of.”
Dr Graham Watson, chairman of the board of trustees at Cala, told The Times newspaper earlier this week: “Cala takes its responsibility as an employer very seriously and puts the wellbeing of our staff and service users above all else. We will take time to reflect and to learn lessons from what has occurred.
“We recognise the situation was challenging for everyone involved and regret any distress caused. We remain dedicated to the continuous improvement of our practices to ensure our employees and service users feel supported, knowing that any concerns will be handled with the utmost care.”
Ms McNicholas however said: “The sad thing about it is there’s no person at all that’s acknowledged what happened. They haven’t apologised.
“At no time has there been any acceptance of what they have done in pursuing a whistleblower, which has completely ruined my life.
“My employers decided to raise allegations against me when I had raised concerns about the proper care of nursery children. They retaliated. They weren’t happy I’d complained about their practices.
“When they discovered I was going to take them to an employment tribunal they made an official referral to the GTCS, who commenced a full-on investigation.
“I can’t even describe the horrendous awful experience at the hands of the GTCS. In my view they were complicit in pursuing a complainer.”
The GTCS said: “We are reviewing our Fitness to Teach rules to make sure they reflect current law and best regulatory practice, while making the process work as fairly and efficiently as it can.”