Former BrewDog Employee Awarded For ‘Unfair’ Dismissal

A former employee of BrewDog was awarded a £12,000 settlement after his deteriorating loss of eyesight led to his permanent suspension.

Here’s the deal…

According to the BBC, James Ross, 47, took the craft brewer to an employment tribunal (they’ve tribunals in England) after he lost his position in packaging at the Aberdeenshire brewery.

Ross had reported that he was losing his vision in 2016, the company decided that his presence at the facility posed a risk to health and safety to the team.

According to the Drinks Business, BrewDog did offer Ross the option of stepping into a computing role, “which he said would have been harder to maintain with impaired eyesight, leading him to lose his job at the brewery.”

In evaluating the case the very authoritarian sounding “tribunal” said it was concerned that managers had no knowledge of the need to make adjustments for disabled people under the Equality Act, stating that only “lip service” was paid to the brewery’s duty to make adjustments.

This from a BrewDog spokesperson….

 “This was a really difficult situation for every member of our team involved in it, and clearly for the tribunal panel too as their decision on the outcome was split.”

“We worked with James in order to find a suitable alternative role within the business where his safety would not be compromised, but James wanted to keep his packaging role.”

“We ended up in a position where we had to balance James’ wishes with the best interests of the team around him, and while we regret that an agreement couldn’t be reached, we have a moral responsibility to prioritize the safety of our team.”

“We are really sorry that this situation has ended this way and wish James all the best in his new role and upcoming studies.”

Ross was awarded £12,052.

BrewDog’s sometimes unconventional stances on things has made them ripe targets for actions…. They still are receiving criticism from advocates their Pink IPA marketing campaign and for parachuting stuffed “fat cats” over Wall Street.

 

All image credits: BrewDog