Former WTTC comms lead loses claim for unfair dismissal
Gary NoakesA former World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) executive has lost his claim for unfair dismissal from his £128,000 job.
Toby Nicol, the WTTC’s former vice-president of communications and PR, claimed illegal redundancy following whistleblowing after being dismissed in October 2019.
Nicol had only been a WTTC employee for six months, but had worked with the organisation on a consultancy basis since 2011.
The case was heard before an employment tribunal last October, with the eventual judgement finding unanimously against Nicol’s case for unfair dismissal.
Nicol’s claim of “detriment” following whistleblowing allegations with also thrown out. A third claim under the Employment Rights Act was withdrawn.
Nicol had brought the case against the WTTC, its former chief executive Gloria Guevara and ex-vice president of human resources Emilio Gracia.
The written judgement said Nicol had, by the end of May 2019, “already decided” he was not willing to work with Guevara as a full-time employee.
The tribunal heard Guevara “was extremely driven and hard-working” and “not always satisfied” with Nicol’s work output. “We also find the claimant put up resistance to working at her pace and level of intensity” read the judgement.
The tribunal found Nicol “preferred to work at a planned and long-term pace", whereas Guevara “worked at a much more rapid pace and required quick responses from those she worked with”.
In her verdict, employment judge Rachel Barker said "this led to clashes between them”, adding that in one example, where Nicol was given direct instructions, "we find that his reply gave her the message that he intended to ignore them”.
The tribunal also found that “on the balance of probabilities”, Nicol had made “inappropriate sexualised comments” to another member of staff, hearing from four colleagues he could be “laddish, lewd and inappropriate on occasions”.
The tribunal decided Nicol had not been victimised after making his allegations against Guevara and other key executives. “We find the respondents never considered the claimant was actually a whistleblower and that this played no part in their decision to dismiss him,” it said.
“We find that in their view, this was simply part of the claimant’s negotiating strategy. We also do not find that the claimant was dismissed for making ‘disclosures’."
Guevara, now chief special advisor to the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, declined to comment following the verdict.
Nicol said he would appeal. He told TTG: “While I was pleased that the tribunal provided an opportunity for Gloria Guevara’s management style at WTTC to be made public, the verdict was not just disappointing, it was bizarre.”
He said he would challenge “a number of very substantial errors of fact”, adding: “Despite the fact these events happened more than three years ago, the original judgement is so obviously wrong that I have lodged an appeal. I look forward to this case being heard again in its entirety in the near future."
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