Council failings criticised as former park boss loses tribunal

JUDGE found “clear deficiencies” in Cardiff council's handling of bullying allegations by the woman who ran the city’s biggest park. But she lost the employment tribunal as the judge concluded the council's failings did not amount to constructive dismissal.

- CONOR GOGARTY Investigations editor [e-mail]

Former Bute Park manager Dr Julia Sas claimed the council failed to deal with “bullying” by park tenant Melissa Boothman, who runs the site's Secret Garden cafe.

Dr Sas alleged the trader orchestrated a “campaign of misinformation” against her and that the council’s inaction on this led to her resigning. She sought a £55,241 payout from the council for constructive dismissal.

Judge Victoria Othen summarised the allegations against the cafe owner as “slamming doors, ‘looks; demeanour, passive aggression, vexatious demands, tactical silence, criticism, harmful allegations, not escalating grievances through appropriate channels, ‘love bombing’ and ‘virtue signalling.”

The judge only briefly mentioned these claims in her judgment. “Most of the details of that dispute are not relevant to the facts of this case and did not comprise evidence which I considered,’ she said.

Judge Othen took into account evidence from David Le Masurier, who owns the four Pettigrew bakeries across Cardiff and spent 13 years running a Pettigrew tea room in Bute Park before it shut earlier this year.

The Pettigrew owner felt Ms Boothman had tried to “undermine” the park manager's “authority and role” and had “tried to encourage” other park tenants to do the same, the tribunal heard.

Dr Sas, who has a PhD in geomicrobiology, became a project manager for the park in 2009 before being promoted to park manager in 2014.

Ms Boothman started running the Secret Garden cafe in 2018.

In 2022, Dr Sas started reporting to the council her concerns about Ms Boothman’s alleged behaviour and the toll it was taking on her mental health.

“By May 2023, she started taking time off work due to illness caused by stress at work because of this and was asking for [the council’s] support,” said the judge.

Dr Sas resigned in June last year, citing “intolerable” working conditions after “multiple” alleged failures to follow internal procedures.