Sacked South Ribble Council chief claims vendetta against her

Heather McManus was suspended from her post at South Ribble Borough Council in May 2019

A council chief executive who was sacked after resigning has told an employment tribunal she was the victim of "a vendetta" by the council leader.

Heather McManus was suspended from her post at South Ribble Borough Council in May 2019 after Labour group leader Paul Foster took control of the council.

She resigned from her post 12 months later, but was dismissed by the council in July 2020 for "serious misconduct".

But she told a hearing complaints against her had been "fabricated".

At the tribunal for unfair dismissal Ms McManus claimed that complaints made against her by senior colleagues shortly before her suspension were "spurious" and she had been subject to bullying and harassment, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

She said: "It was as soon as I started to implement changes that I was constantly personally challenged."

But the barrister representing South Ribble Borough Council, Kirsten Barry, said: "The only recorded complaints of bullying or [about] conduct relate to you".

'Undermining staff'

She said the grievances raised issues including "bullying and undermining of staff [and] poor treatment of staff".

Ms McManus said she and two of her deputies had been suspended so Mr Foster "could then continue his vendetta against me personally".

Ms Barry said that allegation did not "make a lot of sense" because the two deputies later resigned preventing them from speaking up on Ms McManus's behalf.

The tribunal heard an issue had arisen shortly before the local elections in 2019 when a campaign group which opposed a housing development in Penwortham had posted an email from Mr Foster which read that the Labour group was "absolutely committed to halting the development for a detailed review to take place".

Ms McManus said she believed Mr Foster "may have given the impression that the Labour group, if successful in becoming the largest political party in the council, would fail to comply with the planning requirement" in the Town and Country Planning Act, the tribunal heard.

'Raised issues'

Asked directly why she believed she had been suspended by Mr Foster, Ms McManus said that it was because she had "raised issues legitimately with him".

The tribunal heard that an independent investigator assessing the complaints against Ms McManus had recommended she be given a raft of warnings.

A separate independent panel had also recommended her dismissal, but with notice - and disagreed that she was guilty of serious misconduct.

Ms McManus's representative had sought a "mutual termination" of her employment but that was declined.

Ms McManus said she needed to clear her name which she believed had been damaged in press articles.

When Ms Barry suggested that she had actually been happy to remain suspended and to continue getting paid, Ms McManus said: "That could not be further from the truth - I loved that job and I was doing a good job.

"I'd just got a good team in place… and it was all just coming together."

The tribunal continues.