South Ribble Council chief's dismissal 'fair and lawful'

The judge ruled Mrs McManus was entitled to the notice and pay specified in her contract

A council's dismissal of a chief executive who claimed she was subjected to bullying and unfairly sacked was "fair and lawful", a judge has ruled.

Heather McManus resigned from South Ribble Borough Council in 2020, but was then sacked for "serious misconduct".

She told a tribunal she was the victim of "a vendetta" by the council leader.

Judge Neil Buzzard ruled her sacking was not principally the result of actions she took under legislation designed to protect whistleblowers.

However, while he said her dismissal was "fair and lawful, a claim that she was entitled to the notice and pay specified in her contract, instead of being instantly dismissed by the authority, was upheld.

'Protected disclosure'

Mrs McManus' case was considered during a week-long tribunal hearing in October with both parties informed of the decision on Tuesday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Council leader Paul Foster suspended Mrs McManus within weeks of his Labour group taking control of the authority in May 2019, for reasons which were not made public at the time.

The tribunal heard the move had come in the wake of allegations of "bullying" and "poor treatment of staff" made by two senior directors against Mrs McManus, who was sacked six weeks after being suspended in May 2020, and her two deputies at the time.

However, she told the hearing those claims were "spurious" and she was the victim of a longstanding "vendetta" that Mr Foster was pursuing against her.

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She also claimed that her suspension was directly related to a so-called "protected disclosure" that she had made under whistleblowing legislation.

Council papers summarising the tribunal's findings stated the disclosure was "not the principal reason for the dismissal".

The tribunal also found that the allegations against Mrs McManus were the subject of "a lengthy and comprehensive investigation undertaken by an independent investigator" and that there were "no flaws in the investigation process".

Following the ruling, Mrs McManus said she had done "really good things" during her time in charge.

"Unfortunately, the facts of the matter are [that] the judge concluded that my claim for unfair dismissal due to the whistleblowing failed, as he specifically referenced in his delivery that it was clear Paul Foster was out to remove me from the outset and, as such, the protective disclosure was not the principal reason," she said.

Mr Foster said he was "exceptionally relieved now that this matter is behind us," adding that the council had been "wholly vindicated".