A former Nissan worker who set up his own business while on sick leave has won £65,000 compensation for unfair dismissal from the car manufacturer because the company policy did not explicitly forbid staff taking temporary paid work when ill.
An employment tribunal in Newcastle upon Tyne found that Brian Murphy, a paint shop team leader, had not breached company rules by setting up a handyman business while off with a stress-related illness.
Murphy, who had worked at the Sunderland plant for 16 years, was sacked after being filmed laying a lawn and mending a fence by a private detective. An advert for his odd-job services had appeared by mistake on the company’s website, according to a report in the Guardian.
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