Чиновник из Ноттингэма уволен за отказ работать во время отключения электричества

Nottingham City Council employee sacked after refusing to work during power cut His usual workplace was closed by a major power failure A Nottingham City Council cleaner was sacked after refusing to work and going home after a power cut. The city council worker, named only as J Wilson in employment tribunal documents, brought a case of unfair dismissal against the Labour-run authority after being fired on June 5, 2025. Mr Wilson, who had worked as a council cleaner since 2001, usually worked at its Loxley House HQ but, on March 21 last year, he was told to clean elsewhere as a power cut had forced the building to close. The electrical failure, which caused more than a week of disruption to council services and cost it more than £50,000, also meant that he was directed to work at the nearby Broad Marsh car park by text, rather than by email or phone. Despite being sent this message, a tribunal hearing in July found that he continued to travel to Loxley House, which was closed. He then went to the city council-owned car park but refused to work in the car park, telling a manager that working there was not like-for-like with working in the Loxley House office building. Mr Wilson was shown a number of different areas he could clean inside the car park, including the bus station where he had worked before with no issues, but according to tribunal papers he said "this was not his job and said he was going home". Following his decision to refuse to work and head home, the cleaner was invited to an interview as part of a HR investigation but he did not attend this or a later disciplinary hearing. The employment tribunal on his claim added that a council worker had twice tried to contact the cleaner during the disciplinary hearing. He failed to answer the calls and later said that he had been eating his lunch at the time. The miffed cleaner appealed his dismissal in June 2025, claiming that there was a lack of proper communication by his employer, which he said had acted improperly by asking him to work somewhere else by text message. Mr Wilson, who told the tribunal he sometimes struggles with his memory and communication, also said his sacking was disproportionate and claimed that cleaning duties at Loxley House and the car park were significantly different. However, this doomed appeal was dismissed in July 2025, leading to the former employee's employment tribunal claim. Employment judge Michael Butler though, who heard the case on July 22, ruled that his claim of unfair dismissal was not well-founded and dismissed the bid for compensation. "Of his own volition, the claimant effectively walked off the job after refusing a reasonable instruction from his line manager to work at a location which was quite clearly within his job description," the judge said in a recently published judgement. "There then followed an investigation with which the claimant refused to engage. I consider that a reasonable employer would have had little option but to dismiss [Mr Wilson]." Judge Butler added that he found the fired cleaner's evidence "inconsistent" with the duties outlined in his role's job description. This description, the tribunal heard, did not limit his work to one location and he had previously worked elsewhere, including at the car park's bus station.