Bar manager loses tribunal fight amid extortion claims

A WOMAN was fired from her job in a pub run by her sister and brother-in-law after claims she threatened to deliver a "brown envelope" to the taxman unless she was given redundancy.

• The Canny Man's

Bar manager Vivienne Lennox, who had worked at the Canny Man's in Morningside for more than 20 years, was even reported to the police by her sister, Grace Kerr, over the alleged threat before she was sacked for gross misconduct.

Ms Lennox, who denies making the comment, then took legal action herself alleging unfair dismissal against her brother-in-law Watson Kerr, the pub's owner and managing director, seeking 38,000 compensation.

That case has now been dismissed by an employment tribunal and details of the dispute made public for the first time in its judgment.

It suggests the sisters fell out in 2009 when Mrs Lennox claimed Mrs Kerr, a director of the pub, had gone back on a deal to give her and her brother a share of the proceeds from the sale of their late mother's house. At around the same time staff benefits at the Morningside Road bar - including a free wine allowance - were stopped by the owners.

The tribunal judgment said there were suggestions that the sisters had argued over various issues in the following months.

Matters came to a head when Mrs Lennox is alleged to have confronted her sister in the pub's car park and said: "This has been a bad year for

me here - and it is not going to get any better. It's straightforward, I want a redundancy package put together for me by a week on Monday. If it is not done by Tuesday I'll put everything I have in a brown envelope and post it to the Customs and Excise. They will go through it."

Mrs Kerr was said to be "upset and shocked" by this, and the next day spoke to a lawyer who advised her to call the police over her sister's behaviour, which she was told was "blackmail".

The Kerrs then went to the police, after taking further legal advice that the claims amounted to attempted extortion. Mrs Lennox denied the conversation ever took place and the investigation was dropped. She continued to deny the conversation had ever taken place when before the tribunal.

Mr Kerr then spoke to Mrs Lennox and arranged a disciplinary hearing, at which it was found that her actions amounted to gross misconduct, and despite an appeal she was sacked.

In the tribunal ruling, judge Kenneth McGowan said the panel were "satisfied that the claimant's conduct was the reason for dismissal".

It went on to say: "The conduct found by Mr Kerr to have occurred amounted to a demand for money backed up by a threat to report the respondent to the tax authorities. That was an attempt at extortion. In our view, the decision to label it gross misconduct is unimpeachable."

Mrs Lennox could not be contacted for comment, while the Kerrs declined to comment.