Ex-Tory Association chair’s dismissal as Eville & Jones managing director over ‘sham’ £30,000 payment upheld

Dr Aldiss, a former chairman of the Pudsey Conservative Association, took the matter to an employment tribunal on the grounds he had been unfairly dismissed.

But the three-person tribunal panel rejected his case and has now issued a ruling setting out its finding that Dr Aldiss had committed gross misconduct in relation to a £30,000 payment made to a company called the Body Transformation Gym in April 2019. Dr Aldiss told The Yorkshire Post today he intends to appeal the decision and strongly denies any wrongdoing.

Dr Aldiss had claimed during the proceedings that the money had been provided to the company on the basis that he was a “business angel” who was both helping the gym firm and securing the future use of services from the company for Eville & Jones staff. However, Body Transformation Gym was dissolved in January 2020 before any services were delivered to Eville & Jones.

But the tribunal did not accept his evidence and after examining a series of emails about the transaction, instead found that “the business was a means through which the payment of the claimant’s bonus was to be channelled” as a way of avoiding income tax.

The ruling said: “We found that the transaction was a sham; he was not acting as a business angel and there was no intention for wellbeing services to be provided. Rather, this was a device designed to enable the claimant to receive his bonus indirectly and without paying tax on it. That was clearly gross misconduct on the part of the Managing Director.

“As such, the first respondent was contractually entitled to dismiss the claimant without notice and his wrongful dismissal complaint does not succeed.”

Dr Aldiss said today: “As regards the £30,000 which I provided as a support facility for BTG I feel much aggrieved by the inference that I somehow gained from this transaction.”

He said that the transaction had been approved at the time as “totally legitimate”.

“I sent £30,000 of my own money earned through a bonus arrangement to a company which was undergoing financial hardship. I have regularly provided such support payments to friends and colleagues over the years.”

Dr Aldiss said an “incomplete” series of emails had been provided to the tribunal and the full exchanges would have shown gym services were due to be provided.

He added: “The allegation that the arrangement was a ‘sham’ is a direct falsehood.

“Furthermore, I am somewhat confused as to how I was supposed to gain from such a transaction – sham or not – the money was paid out to a third party and lost when the business went into liquidation.”

A spokesperson for Eville & Jones said the tribunal’s ruling validated the decision to dismiss Dr Aldiss and the process that was followed beforehand.

They added: “We are pleased that the tribunal panel recognised that E&J acted reasonably and with integrity in taking the decision to dismiss, enabling us to put this matter behind us and continue to focus on delivering a great service for our customers.”

The tribunal ruling stated the judges had found witnesses for Eville & Jones to have done their best to give “honest and accurate evidence” but said that they considered Dr Aldiss’s evidence “lacking in credibility in many respects”.

The ruling said: “He had a tendency to avoid answering the question or to answer a different question. He frequently gave evidence that was inconsistent with what he had said on other occasions. He made assertions that did not withstand scrutiny when properly examined. Some of his answers and explanations were wholly implausible.”

The ruling said he had been diagnosed with a bipolar condition in August 2019 and the panel accepted his evidence that it could make him “erratic, antisocial and unpredictable”.

After Dr Aldiss had been suspended in May 2020 following a series of allegations about his conduct, a chartered accountant whose firm provided Eville & Jones with advice on commercial matters was asked to investigate them.

The initial investigation concluded there was a case to answer on six allegations.

A disciplinary hearing was scheduled for July 2020 and the director of HR Consulting at law firm Clarion, which was advising Eville & Jones in relation to the disciplinary proceedings, was appointed.

Dr Aldiss’s lawyer suggested that the situation meant she could not be independent in the matter but the tribunal accepted her evidence that she had acted with integrity and independence in the matter and conducted the inquiry with “rigour”.

Following the disciplinary hearing, she produced a report which upheld five allegations against Dr Aldiss, including that “he had deliberately and dishonestly misled the company in relation to the £30,000, including disguising the ultimate intended recipient. She found that the money was never intended to be used for corporate gym services for the benefit of the company and that the arrangement was fraudulent and a sham”.

She recommended that summary dismissal was the appropriate outcome.

An appeal was submitted and assessed by a separate HR consultant who conducted a review and upheld the finding relating to the £30,000 payment.

The tribunal panel also came to the same conclusion that the issue was a matter of gross misconduct. It said it was not proportionate to make detailed findings about other gross misconduct allegations against Dr Aldiss.

The panel said it “comprehensively rejected” Dr Aldiss’s central contention that he had been subjected to a “sham” process “designed and manipulated to remove him from the company because they had lost patience with his disability-related behaviour”.

The ruling said: “The Tribunal found that this was a genuine process, carried out by people of integrity, doing their best to follow a fair process and reach decisions based on that process.”

Dr Aldiss said today: “I totally reject the findings of the Tribunal and will be appealing accordingly – the panel has made an incorrect judgement.”