A former Team GB canoe polo athlete has secured nearly £150,000 in compensation after being compelled to drive overnight from Germany for a meeting, only to find her boss absent.
Bethan Littlewood, aged 29, hastened back to the UK after being summoned for an urgent meeting with her supervisors at Nuffield Health. At the time, she was participating in the European Canoe Polo Championships in Germany.
Upon her arrival at the Bridgend gym in South Wales for the scheduled September 2023 meeting, Littlewood discovered that her manager was unavailable, attending another training session due to a scheduling conflict.
The employment tribunal described the incident as the ‘final straw’ for Littlewood, a European gold medalist who bravely overcame stage three ovarian cancer at just 15 years old.
Shortly after this episode, Littlewood resigned from her position at Nuffield Health. She was awarded £149,017 after successfully taking legal action against the company for unfair dismissal, unlawful wage deductions, unpaid holiday pay, and facing negative consequences after making protected disclosures.
An employment judge criticized the gym chain’s conduct towards Littlewood as ‘contemptuous and wholly unreasonable,’ concluding that the company’s actions were a fundamental breach of the trust and confidence owed to an employee.
The tribunal heard Miss Littlewood had travelled to Germany to compete after requesting annual leave months earlier – only for the request to be rejected while she was already abroad and signed off sick with stress.
Despite this, managers insisted she attend a meeting on September 12, 2023, prompting her to drive overnight from Germany to Wales because she feared disciplinary action after already being handed a final written warning.
Bethan Littlewood, 29, raced back to Britain through the night after being told she was required to attend a last minute meeting with managers at Nuffield Health while competing at the European Canoe Polo Championships in Germany
But on arrival she discovered manager James Cheadle was not even at the club, having instead gone to training in Newbury.
Judge Samantha Moore said: ‘To refuse leave requested months earlier, knowing what competing meant to [Miss Littlewood], and require her to attend a meeting and then not bother to turn up was contemptuous and wholly unreasonable.’
Reacting to the news, Miss Littlewood said: ‘It’s been a long long time in the making, and it’s been a bit of a process and it’s hard to say you’re happy after everything you’ve been through, but it’s something, you know?
‘The craziest thing is, the whole time they were like, “You haven’t got a case.” I was thinking there’s no way what you’ve done is right.’
Miss Littlewood claimed that Nuffield Health tried to pressure her to take back her claims.
While she was working for Nuffield Health, she was part of the Great British canoe polo team which won a gold medal at the 2019 European championships.
Miss Littlewood was 15 years old and part of the under 21 team in 2012 when she was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer, which it took about two years for her to recover from.
The employment tribunal, held in Cardiff, heard that Miss Littlewood worked as a personal trainer with Virgin Active from 2015 before her employment was transferred to Nuffield Health in Bridgend, Wales, in 2016.
Miss Littlewood reported a new Fitness Manager for carrying out a Ministry of Defence fitness test on someone who had an elevated blood pressure reading, which meant they should not have done it.
She only reported Declan Morris in June 2022 after she had first raised it with him and he reacted in a ‘hostile manner’.
Miss Littlewood was informed that Mr Morris would have to go through ‘retraining’ to make sure he was carrying out the tests in the right way.
From this month onwards, Mr Morris began withholding three hours of pay a week from Miss Littlewood.
Miss Littlewood made a complaint about Mr Morris in October 2022, saying that the more senior employee had been hostile and said to her, ‘You didn’t have to go and tell on me,’ regarding the blood pressure incident.
She said that he was ‘bullying her and withholding her wages’ after the incident, adding: ‘He has held it completely against me and has been particularly unpleasant and unfair.’
In October 2022, Miss Littlewood was reported by Mr Morris for not following the shift times she was due to carry out.
This is despite the fact that he had not properly informed her about the rota change.
In November and December 2022 Miss Littlewood’s pay was significantly reduced, and she was ‘placed into financial hardship’ as a result of the withheld pay.
While she was working for Nuffield Health, she was part of the Great British canoe polo team which won a gold medal at the 2019 European championships
A Nuffield Health customer reported Mr Morris in November 2022 after witnessing his behaviour towards Miss Littlewood.
The customer said: ‘He proceeded to tell [Miss Littlewood] off in front of me saying she should know better, repeating to her what he had said to me but in a menacing and even threatening voice, belittling and humiliating her in front of me.’
The tribunal heard: ‘The member went on to say they considered Mr Morris had chosen the moment to maximise his need to demonstrate power, she was shocked by his behaviour and felt compelled to write the letter, describing it as verbal aggression.’
Miss Littlewood’s bullying grievance against Mr Morris was not upheld by Nuffield Health, and the customer complaint had not been mentioned during the investigation by the manager it was reported to, Mr Cheadle.
Miss Littlewood was signed off from work with stress in early 2023.
A disciplinary hearing against Miss Littlewood was held in May 2023, based on an allegation that she had falsely claimed inflated pay.
She was given a final written warning for this, which was upheld on appeal.
In June that year, she submitted a request for annual leave on September 5 and 12.
Her request was declined by Mr Morris on September 7, with the reason being that she was on sick leave.
She had already travelled to Germany to compete at the Canoe Polo European Championships when she was told by Mr Cheadle that he ‘required her attendance on 12 September at 1.00pm’.
The tribunal heard: ‘[Miss Littlewood], very conscious she was on a final written warning, drove back through the night from Germany to make sure that she was at the meeting.
‘When she arrived at the club on 12 September 2023 and reported to reception she was advised that Mr Cheadle was not at the club but in Newbury attending some training.
‘Mr Cheadle explained in his witness statement that he was aware he was double booked with training and meeting [Miss Littlewood].
‘The general manager instructed him to attend the training and “in the worst case scenario” the manager was in the club and available.’
The tribunal found Miss Littlewood was not informed she could speak to the general manager.
This incident was the ‘last straw’ for Miss Littlewood, who handed in her resignation.
Employment Judge Samantha Moore said that she was entitled to take annual leave during sick leave, and she had felt she was fit for work, but Nuffield Health had not properly engaged with her about returning.
‘We consider the leave was not refused for genuine reasons and was of mischievous intent,’ the judge said.
EJ Moore continued: ‘If there was one act by [Nuffield Health] that demonstrated the contemptuous manner of the treatment of [Miss Littlewood], this was it.
‘Having regard to the above we have concluded [Nuffield Health] in a course of conduct fundamentally breached the implied term of mutual trust and confidence entitling [Miss Littlewood] to treat the contract as at an end.’
The judge found that the disciplinary allegations against her should ‘never have been escalated to the degree they were’, and it was ‘wholly unreasonable to accuse [Miss Littlewood] of dishonesty’ relating to the pay rates for classes.
Miss Littlewood has now retired as a competitive canoe polo athlete for Great Britain, and instead she coaches the Danish women’s canoe polo team.
Following several years of looking for work, Miss Littlewood has joined the Royal Marines Reserves, and works as a sports coach for a Local Authority.
