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.
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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.
