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It was an unprecedented time of worry and economic hardship as coronavirus continued to spread throughout the country.
But just 48 hours after England emerged from a second national lockdown, the effects of the pandemic seemed to be the last thing on the mind of council housing worker Lee Marsh.
While a tribunal heard how the Estate Caretaker at Labour-run Birmingham City Council thought it ‘amusing’ to pass wind on a junior colleague as he ate his lunch, an employment judge ruled the incident, and others, amounted to age discrimination.
The judge also concluded that Mr Marsh, in his late 50s, had a problem with his ‘ambitious’ younger colleague potentially having authority over him.
The panel was told Mr Marsh had threatened the trainee caretaker when he objected to the ‘disgusting behaviour’.
The junior housing worker told the tribunal: ‘He then said to me be careful how you speak to me as I can get rid of you’. He said, ‘you are only a trainee I can get rid of you like I have the others in the past’.’
An estate caretaker at Birmingham City Council farting on a junior colleague was ruled by an employment judge to be ‘age discrimination’ (File photo)
It was accepted Mr Marsh warned him about going for a more senior role.
‘If any of you youngsters get this job … I will tell you to f*** off’, Mr Marsh told his colleague, because he ‘is older and will not be told by youngsters’.
In a somewhat unfortunate turn of phrase, the junior colleague told the tribunal: ‘Once Lee got wind of my progression plan is when I first felt uncomfortable around him.
‘It would be comments like ‘these babbies coming in and trying to take over’, ‘you are only a pup’, ‘I have got kids your age’, ‘anyway it’s first in last out at the Council’.’
At the time of the pair’s conflict, bosses at the authority – Europe’s largest council – were grappling with a financial black hole which would ultimately see the council effectively declare itself bankrupt.
The Birmingham tribunal was told the younger colleague – who is in his mid-30s and was granted anonymity – joined the local authority in October 2020 as a caretaker, looking after estates in the city.
Two months into his employment, in December 2020, it became apparent the housing worker was ambitious in his career and Mr Marsh broke wind as he ate on December 8.
It was heard the pair had a number of flare-ups.
In November 2021, Mr Marsh threatened the trainee with violence – including the use of a chair.
The pair were both subjected to gross misconduct allegations over the chair incident, leading to the junior housing worker going off work sick and then resigning.
Birmingham City Council admitted he was constructively dismissed as he should not have faced the allegations.
Employment Judge Christopher Camp found that the ‘breaking wind incident’ amounted to age discrimination.
He said there was ‘strong evidence Mr Marsh had a problem with somebody of (the housing worker’s) age potentially being in authority over him.
‘In relation to this allegation about Mr Marsh passing wind at (him) and telling him that he could be got rid of, the (council) has not begun to satisfy us… that in no sense whatsoever was Mr Marsh consciously or unconsciously motivated by something to do with the [housing worker’s] age.’
Although the judge ruled that the housing worker suffered age discrimination and age-related harassment, the claims ultimately failed because he raised them too late. But the trainee caretaker is in line for compensation relating to his unfair dismissal claim.
Birmingham City Council formally declared itself in financial distress by issuing a Section 114 notice last September, three months after admitting it still had to pay up to £760million to settle an equal pay claim.
It had been struggling since a Supreme Court ruling in 2012 found women workers did not receive the same pay and benefits as men doing the same roles.
