A former regional pre-construction manager who worked for Balfour Beatty for almost 10 years has been awarded £137,000.
The reason, he had accused the company of under-estimating potential profits on a job for the Welsh government.
In 2014 Balfour Beatty tendered for a project at Callaghan Square in Cardiff that was worth approximately £18.5m and would be paid for out of public funds.
Mr McArthur believed that Balfour Beatty had not declared the lowest quotes to the Welsh government and as such would be making a greater profit than was actually declared.
Using the company’s whistleblowing procedures he raised his concerns and as a result claims he was bullied. Mr McArthur resigned his post in February 2015 and began a constructive dismissal claim.
In November 2015 Balfour Beatty admitted his claim the result being the court has now handed down a compensation judgement of £137,000.
Balfour Beatty said: “In the employment tribunal proceedings, Balfour Beatty did not contest Mr McArthur’s claim for unfair dismissal and is paying compensation to him as assessed by the Court.
“We accept that we failed to properly support our employee following concerns he raised, which resulted in him feeling it was necessary to resign.
“Balfour Beatty encourages its employees to report workplace concerns they may have and we have the tools in place to support them in doing so.
“We regret that on this occasion we fell short of the high standards we set for ourselves in this area. We will use the lessons learnt from this experience to provide better support to our employees in the future.
“Balfour Beatty did not behave illegally or fraudulently in relation to the Callaghan Square project.
“Once senior management were aware of the facts regarding the Callaghan Square project, we provided full disclosure to the Welsh Assembly.
“The Welsh Assembly later made a decision not to pursue the project for reasons of their own unrelated to this matter.”
Terry Falcão, employment law partner at Stephens Scown who represented McArthur, said: “Nigel has shown immense integrity throughout this case and has had the courage of his convictions to stand up for the truth.
“This case clearly underlines that even though many companies have whistleblowing hotlines and model policies and procedures in place, it remains very difficult for employees who speak out.”
Comment
A question for you to ponder. Would the fear of reprisals prevent you from whistleblowing if it was in the public interest?
