School Caretaker Wins £32,000 After Getting a Terrible Job Reference

A school caretaker in England named Mark Steward has been awarded £32,000 after a court decided he was treated unfairly. He had reported health and safety problems at his school, and a judge agreed that his boss punished him for it. The case was decided at the Reading Employment Tribunal in Berkshire, England.

Mr. Steward started his job at Langford Village Community Primary School in July 2023. He had six years of experience doing the same kind of work at another school. Even before his first day, he visited the school and made suggestions to improve safety.

In his first week, he wrote a new fire drill plan and shared it with all the staff. He even checked with headteacher Sarah Tomlin before sending it out. She responded by saying the plan was 'great' and 'long overdue.'

Over the following months, Mr. Steward kept raising concerns about safety issues at the school. He said problems like exposed wires and rot in the building could lead to serious illness or even death. These kinds of reports are called 'protected disclosures,' and the law is meant to protect workers who make them.

Some female teachers complained that Mr. Steward was rude and sent too many emails. Ms. Tomlin came to see him as a troublemaker who didn't follow instructions. She suggested he was unwilling to take direction from women, but the court found very little proof of this.

In December 2023, Mr. Steward was offered a better-paying job at another school. When that school asked Ms. Tomlin for a reference, she described him as failing in seven out of ten areas of his job. The tribunal said they had never seen such a negative reference in their professional experience.

The new job offer was taken back because of the reference. Mr. Steward found out the next day when the school sent him a copy. He later stopped coming in to work, and Ms. Tomlin sent him home on paid leave.

Mr. Steward found another job in January 2024, and Ms. Tomlin gave the same bad reference again. This time, the new school hired him anyway. Still, Mr. Steward decided to go to court because he believed the bad references were meant to punish him for speaking up.

Judge Laurie Anstis agreed with Mr. Steward. The judge pointed out that if Mr. Steward had really been doing such a terrible job, Ms. Tomlin would have taken action against him while he was still working there — but she never did. This made the judge think the bad references were connected to Mr. Steward's safety reports.

The court ordered Ms. Tomlin and Oxfordshire County Council to pay Mr. Steward £32,000. The ruling said the bad references were a 'whistleblowing detriment,' meaning he was punished for reporting safety concerns, which is against the law. The case is a reminder that workers have the right to speak up about dangers without fear of punishment.