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In a significant victory against workplace harassment, a Royal Mail employee of Indian origin has been awarded over £2.3 million (approximately Rs 24 crore) in compensation after her claims of bullying were substantiated by an employment tribunal. Kam Jhuti, who had lodged her complaint nearly eight years ago, alleged that she faced intimidation and harassment from her superior when she raised concerns about a colleague receiving an illegitimate bonus.
According to reports, the tribunal determined that her boss’s treatment had a profoundly detrimental impact on Jhuti, describing it as “catastrophic”. In a recent remedy decision appended to the protracted case, the tribunal stated, “The total award by the respondent to the claimant amounts to GBP 2,365,614.13.” However, payment of the award is temporarily suspended pending the outcome of Royal Mail’s appeal against the tribunal’s initial judgment on remedies, which was communicated to the involved parties on October 3, 2022. Both parties have the option to request the suspension be lifted.
The decision further specified that Royal Mail must immediately pay Jhuti £250,000 gross as part of the total compensation award, as agreed upon by both parties. This payment is not subject to suspension and must be made within 14 days of the hearing’s date.
Earlier, the tribunal had concluded that the postal service had acted in a “high-handed, malicious, insulting, and oppressive” manner during the course of the case.
During a Supreme Court hearing in 2019, it was revealed that Jhuti had joined Royal Mail’s MarketReach unit in London as a media specialist, earning £50,000 per year, in September 2013. In October of the same year, while observing a colleague, she began to suspect that they were not adhering to Ofcom’s guidelines and were violating the company’s policy on Tailor-Made Incentives (TMIs) for bonuses. Jhuti alleged that the colleague had manipulated performance targets to secure a bonus for themselves, essentially defrauding the company.
Later that month, a TMI expert within the organization confirmed Jhuti’s suspicions by acknowledging that media specialists were inappropriately offering TMIs.
As the investigation progressed, Jhuti experienced stress and raised concerns about her boss’s behaviour. Although she was assigned a new line manager, her progress was deemed insufficient, and in March 2014, she was signed off with work-related stress, anxiety, and depression. She never returned to work.
Following an initial employment tribunal in 2015, Jhuti’s claims of unfair dismissal were upheld after the Supreme Court ruled in her favour. Since an appeal is pending, the Royal Mail is currently obligated to pay only £250,000 from the overall compensation amount.
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