An employment tribunal has rejected unfair dismissal, age discrimination, victimisation and breach of contract complaints by a compliance officer against a group of legal businesses based in Greater Manchester.
All the claims made by Keith Mellalieu against law firms GLP Legal Management Limited, GLP Solicitors and GLP Prestwich failed. The claims were also brought against the group’s co-founders, Jonathan Pfeffer and Graham Leigh.
Mellalieu, 71, worked for the group for 23 years and was 68 at the time of his dismissal. His former employer, Pfeffer, a solicitor, is 11 years older than Mellalieu at 82, while Leigh, also a solicitor, and senior partner is 69.
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In 2000, Mellalieu was hired as an account manager for a GLP business, but later became a compliance officer for finance and administration (COFA). He fulfilled various financial and regulatory roles for the group of entities operating as GLP over the 23 years of his employment.
He claimed that in the years preceding his dismissal he was regularly asked about his age and retirement plans, and that he was ‘talked to, almost shouted at in a most aggressive, bullying, threatening manner’ during a meeting. The claimant alleged that Pfeffer said to him: ‘You’re 70, where do you think you are going to get another job?’, and questioned his physical and mental health.
Following a 10-day hearing, during which Mellalieu represented himself, the judge found in favour of the five respondents. Mellalieu’s claims were dismissed.
Evidence presented at tribunal showed Mellalieu had committed ‘gross misconduct’ during his employment. This included failure to file VAT returns from April 2019 to December 2020, filing VAT returns late thereby incurring surcharges, and failure to communicate problems. After HMRC introduced Making Tax Digital in April 2019, requiring electronic VAT returns, the claimant said he could not enter them due to ‘technical issues’. The VAT filing issues were discovered by a colleague while Mellalieu was away on holiday.
Following a series of heated meetings between March and September 2023, during which evidence of compliance failures was put to him, and his paperwork described as ‘organised chaos’, Mellalieu submitted three grievances.
After an investigation, Pfeffer terminated Mellalieu’s employment in a letter stating that ‘what had been established had been found to amount to gross misconduct and the sanction found was dismissal’. The claimant appealed his dismissal, entered into ACAS early conciliation from December 2023 until January 2024, and then entered his employment tribunal claim in February 2024.
The judge said of Mellalieu’s conduct at the tribunal: ‘The claimant found cross-examination of the witnesses somewhat challenging. He frequently reverted to making lengthy statements and not asking questions.’
He added: ‘In his submissions, the claimant referred to a number of matters which I have not found to be relevant to the decisions which I needed to reach in the issues which it had been identified I needed to determine.’
