Royal Mail ‘destroyed’ woman’s life after she questioned bonuses

Royal Mail has been accused by a judge of “destroying” a female employee’s life after she was the victim of a lengthy bullying campaign for blowing the whistle on potential fraud.

In an extraordinary judgement, the postal service was told that if it had a “shred of decency” it would pay Kam Jhuti more than £100,000 in damages given the “catastrophic” impact its treatment had had on her.

The media specialist had been intimidated and harassed by her boss, Mike Widmer, after she raised concerns that a colleague had secured their bonus illegitimately.

The “profound” and “visceral” effect of this bullying – which ended in her being sacked – left her suffering from severe depression and post traumatic stress disorder, an employment tribunal heard.

Only a final resolution to her seven-year case – which at one point went all the way to the Supreme Court – could offer hope of a recovery, it concluded.

Royal Mail has been recommended to pay compensation of £109,065, with £12,500 suggested as aggravated damages for the “high-handed, malicious, insulting and oppressive” way it had conducted the case.

The final figure is yet to be determined and will be decided between parties at a later date.

Bullying campaign lasted four months

The 2019 Supreme Court hearing was told Ms Jhuti started work as a £50,000 a year media specialist in Royal Mail’s MarketReach unit in London in September 2013.

However, the following month, whilst shadowing a colleague, she began to suspect they were not following Ofcom’s guidance and also breaching the company’s policy in relation to bonuses known as Tailor-Made Incentives (TMIs).

She said this helped the colleague to hit performance targets – directly securing a bonus for herself, indirectly securing Mr Widmer’s and “in effect defrauding the company”.

In November 2013 she emailed Mr Widmer reporting her concerns, to which he sent a “sinister” email to his boss, stating that she needed to provide evidence of the accusations and “has to be aware she is making quite strong and serious allegations”.

Ms Jhuti was later told in a meeting that if she were to pursue the issue, her job would be put “at risk”. Mr Widmer then set up “intensive” weekly meetings with her – something that was unmatched for other members of his team.

By December, he was repeatedly telling Ms Jhuti her progress was disappointing and emailed HR saying he was going to compile examples to show she was not meeting expected standards. 

Later that month, a TMI expert in the business vindicated Ms Jhuti’s previous allegations, by acknowledging media specialists were offering TMIs “inappropriately”. 

In February 2014 Ms Jhuti was placed on a six-week performance improvement plan and told if she did not comply she would fail her trial period.

One of the objectives within the plan was for her to share key client contacts in the travel industry – all of which she had made in previous jobs.

Ms Jhuti subsequently emailed HR expressing concern at her boss’ conduct towards her – alleging it was because of her previous whistleblowing which she had been “forced to rescind”. 

She believed this demand for her contacts was not one she could lawfully comply with and highlighted an “agenda to dismiss her” if she didn’t comply.

In a subsequent meeting Ms Jhuti was told Mr Widmer was a “respected employee” and that “he would be the one to be believed”. 

In March 2014 Ms Jhuti was signed off with work-related stress, anxiety and depression, and never returned to work. Earlier in March, Ms Jhuti had been offered three months pay to “voluntarily” terminate her employment.

After she went off sick the offer was increased to a year’s salary – which the tribunal described as “extremely strange” given its “ostensible generosity”.

In July 2014 Ms Jhuti was dismissed with three months notice, and her appeal was dismissed a year later. 

After taking Royal Mail to an initial employment tribunal in 2015, Ms Jhuti’s claims of unfair dismissal succeeded after the Supreme Court ruled in her favour.

Now she has finally won compensation totalling £109,065. including £40,000 for injury to feelings and £55,000 for personal injury.

Conduct was ‘high-handed, malicious, insulting and oppressive’

In his ruling, employment judge Richard Baty said: “Whilst as a rule we try to avoid language which might be deemed intemperate, it is nonetheless true to say that [Royal Mail’s] treatment of [Ms Jhuti] has destroyed [her] life.

“Furthermore, all of the medical professionals are clear that the resolution of these employment tribunal proceedings is necessary as a prerequisite to Ms Jhuti beginning to make any sort of recovery.

“If [Royal Mail Group] has any shred of decency in the light of the catastrophic impact on the claimant of its treatment of her, it will ensure that this process is swiftly completed.”

The judge added: “We… have little hesitation in concluding that this conduct was high-handed, malicious, insulting and oppressive.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Royal Mail values the work and commitment of all individuals who work in our business. This is a long running case that relates to matters arising a number of years ago. 

“The most recent judgement from the employment tribunal deals with the principles for how any compensation might be calculated but does not make any specific award. We are carefully reviewing the decision. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.”