A former Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) sales manager has agreed to a £35,000 payout after a London employment tribunal last week upheld her claim that she was unfairly dismissed from the REC.

Maggie Pattinson’s job was made redundant, along with those of six other REC employees, in May 2009 as the REC attempted to cut costs. However, testimony during the two-day hearing revealed that the jobs of newer employees with responsibilities Pattinson had previously handled were not put at risk at the time. Other jobs with overlapping responsibilities were created soon after she lost her job.

Testimony also revealed that REC consultant Martyn Noble’s consultation meetings with Pattinson about the threatened redundancy were brief, casual “ad-hoc” affairs which took place with no notice. One such meeting took place while Pattinson was making coffee at the office. Noble took no notes during the so-called consultation meetings, and he conceded that notes about the meetings’ content, which were provided to the tribunal, were written after his meetings with Pattinson. The claimant did not see the notes until the disclosure phase of the tribunal proceedings.

Tribunal chairman Ms H Norris criticised Noble’s handling of the meetings for, among other points, their “total lack of structure”.

Noble, who has worked for the REC as a consultant since August 2008, took on what the tribunal called “the lion’s share” of Pattinson’s line management responsibilities after she lost her job. Noble has never been an REC employee, but he holds the position of REC commercial director. In addition to his consultant’s pay, he is reimbursed for expenses, it was noted.

The lack of notes emerged as a theme when it became apparent there were also no notes surrounding decisions to single her role out for redundancy within her department without placing her in a pool with other employees with overlapping job responsibilities.

REC CEO Kevin Green took, in the panel’s view, the “wholly inappropriate” step of handling Pattinson’s appeal after being closely involved in the decision to make her job redundant. Ms Norris said that the REC had a council of non-exec directors who could have heard the appeal.

Pattinson told Recruiter that about a third of her payout will go to legal fees.

In a prepared statement, the REC said it was considering an appeal.