A charity worker who claimed she discovered her job was under threat when she pieced together scraps of paper from a bin was not unfairly dismissed, an employment tribunal has ruled.

The detective work was carried out by former police officer Jan Gavin at the offices of Colchester Women's Aid where she had been employed as a welfare worker.

But it failed to help convince the three-member tribunal panel that, as Mrs Gavin, 46, claimed, she had been left with no option than to resign after being put in an impossible situation.

After studying two days of evidence, the panel threw out her claim for unfair dismissal. Tribunal chairman Christopher Ash said: "We are satisfied that the charity behaved properly and reasonably at all times".

Published Monday, January 27, 2003

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