SOCIAL WORKER WRONGLY BLAMED FOR MAN’S DEATH

Tribunal victory for Oldham council employee who was accused of neglecting man who fell from bridge

ASOCIAL worker who was wrongly blamed for the death of a man in his care has won a claim for unfair dismissal.

Graham Hennis was fired after being accused by Oldham council of neglecting the man before he fell from a bridge in 2013, but has now been vindicated.

A tribunal heard Mr Hennis, 56, from Denton, Tameside, was blamed despite there being no signs the man had suicidal tendencies which could have been picked up.

The council’s investiga- tion into the death has now been judged to have been ‘seriously flawed’ and began ‘with a mindset predisposed’ to find Mr Hennis guilty. Town hall chiefs insist they acted appropriately.

A coroner recorded an open verdict at an inquest into the man’s death.

The tribunal heard Mr Hennis, a father-of-three, had an ‘excessive number of cases’, well above the council’s limit, but was willing to take on new and complex cases; showing a ‘conscientious and willing approach’ to his job.

The ruling stated the council was ‘predisposed to believe the worst’ in Mr Hennis, which was ‘all the more surprising against a backdrop of pressures facing social workers in a climate of financial cutbacks and union concerns’.

It added: “The investigation did not meet the standards of the reasonable employer in a case where the threshold for reasonableness needed to reflect the career-destroying implications for the claimant’s future.”

Mr Hennis said: “I became a social worker as I wanted to help people.

“But my years of good work were ignored. I was suspended and ostracised from my colleagues. Being scapegoated blighted my life. It has been a living nightmare.”

Slater and Gordon law- yer, Sarah Evans, who fought Mr Hennis’s case, said: “The stress and anxiety he experienced was debilitating. His employer refused to listen to his side of the story and refused to acknowledge he had an extremely load.”

Coun Jenny Harrison, Oldham’s cabinet member for social care and safeguarding, said the town hall was ‘very disappointed’ with the ruling.

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She added: “We remain convinced we acted appropriately and applied the level of scrutiny, oversight and accountability appropriate to the seniority and experience of the social worker.”