A Glasgow home repairs firm been ordered to pay a former manager more than £14,000 after he was accused of being responsible for a gas leak “without evidence”.

An employment tribunal found Chris Peden was unfairly dismissed in a case involving construction firm City Building.

Mr Peden, was employed by Chanlon as a gas engineer from October 2017 until June 2022 and latterly as a divisional manager.

He was made a director of one of the firm’s subsidiaries, Industrial Commercial Heating Solutions Limited in February 2020.

Two years later additional shareholders were brought into the business which merged to become Chanlon Group Limited. 

Mr Peden’s job title changed to departmental head of energy services for the group and he was put in charge of four other managers, two foremen and 32 employees. 

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The tribunal was told that on May 23 last year on returning from a business trip Mr Peden was summoned to a meeting with bosses and told he was being suspended.

He was not told why at this stage but the firm’s HR Director Alia Taub later claimed there had been a number of complaints from City Building.

He was handed two photos of a boiler and flue installed at a property in Dumfries. A manager told him that the boiler had been installed with a cracked flue that had leaked CO2.

Mr Peden claimed there was no evidence of this in the photo and he explained the processes for checking and signing off boiler installations.

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He was told to attend a disciplinary meeting but was not sent the findings of an apparent investigation carried out by the firm.

He later lodged a grievance claiming he had been “undermined, bullied and harrassed” but the firm said this was “unsubstantiated”.

An employment tribunal found there had been an “abject failure” by the firm to provide evidence of any misconduct by the manager. 

It said: “The only limited evidence provided was two photographs of an alleged defective boiler installation which installation had not been performed by the claimant.”.

Mr Peden had been interviewed and an evidence statement was taken which did not set out any allegations. 

No further statements or documents were provided and no details of any complaints regarding the installation works were provided. 

There was no detail of any interviews with gas safety experts, investigating officer or evidence from City Buildings despite being referred to in a disciplinary letter.

The tribunal concluded: “There had been a complete failure to undertake a fair process and lack of any evidence upon which to base a finding of misconduct.”

“No reasonable employer would have dismissed in the circumstances.”