Who Cares Wins

The following article appears in today's Daily Record newspaper.

Mary Caldwell was one of the first carer's in Glasgow to take an equal pay claim up with Action 4 Equality Scotland - which was successful of course.

Mary's unfair dismissal case against Glasgow City Council was pursued by Brian McLaughlin at Fox Cross solicitors - after Mary's trade union refused to get involved.

So I'm really pleased that Mary's claim has been upheld by the Employment Tribunals.

Because just like all the carers I've ever met in Glasgow - Mary is a thoroughly decent person - the salt of the earth in fact.

Home carer wins £11k for unfair dismissal after helping sick boy

By Ashlie McAnally

A CARER who defied bosses to give the best care to a disabled child has won almost £11,000 at a tribunal after being sacked for fiddling timesheets.

Home support worker Mary Caldwell, 59, who worked 37 hours a week with Glasgow City Council, started work at 7.15am to look after a seven-year-old boy with cerebral palsy.

She left work at 3.45pm to start her 4pm job with Cordia.

But because she noted the allocated hours of 8am to 4.30pm on her timesheets, bosses believed she was defrauding the council.

The twice-nominated carer of the year admitted the sheets didn’t coincide with the hours worked but gave an explanation saying she came in early because “the kids come first”.

The 30-minute overlap came to light when Mary lodged an equal pay claim with employers and the timesheets were checked.

After being sacked for defrauding the council in 2010, she took her former employers to a tribunal and judge Shona MacLean awarded her £10,998 for unfair dismissal. The hearing was told Mary’s hours were agreed but that she worked on a flexi-time scheme.

Mary said she spoke to one manager who didn’t authorise her to work different hours but carried them out anyway to look after the child. She claimed a second manager did give her permission.

Yesterday, Mary – who has now taken an elderly aunt into her Dalmarnock home, Glasgow, to care for her – said: “You get penalised for caring for people.

“It was never down to money, it was down to caring for people. That’s my job. I’ve done it for years.”