In a landmark case, a Royal Mail employee has been awarded over £2 million in compensation, marking the company's largest-ever settlement.
Kam Jhuti, a media specialist, endured intimidation and harassment from her boss, Mike Widmer, after she raised concerns about a colleague's bonus. The court ruling, which described Royal Mail's conduct as "high-handed, malicious, insulting, and oppressive," emphasised the catastrophic impact of Jhuti's boss's treatment, leading to her suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression.
The dispute dates back to September 2013, when Ms. Jhuti joined the Royal Mail's MarketReach unit in London. Just a month into her job, while shadowing a colleague, she became suspicious that Ofcom's guidelines and the company's bonus policy, known as Tailor-Made Incentives (TMIs), were being breached. Ms. Jhuti suspected that her colleague was fraudulently securing bonuses by manipulating performance targets. In November, she reported her concerns via email to Mr. Widmer and his superior, highlighting the seriousness of the situation.
Instead of addressing the issue, Ms. Jhuti's boss responded by threatening her job security and questioning her understanding of the TMI policy during a four-hour meeting. Fearing the consequences, she apologised and retracted her allegations, but was subjected to a two-hour "dress down," where she was informed of her alleged underperformance. Mr. Widmer established intensive weekly meetings with Ms. Jhuti, continuously expressing disappointment with her progress.
By December, a TMI expert within the company confirmed that Ms. Jhuti's initial allegations were indeed correct, acknowledging that media specialists were inappropriately offering TMIs. The mounting pressure and mistreatment took a toll on Ms. Jhuti's well-being and by January 2014 she developed alopecia - which she attributed to stress. In February, she was placed on a performance improvement plan with the ultimatum that failure to comply would result in her failing her trial period.
Feeling targeted and mistreated, Ms. Jhuti reached out to human resources, expressing her concerns about her boss's conduct. She stated that it was clear she was being managed with the intent to remove her based on her initial complaint.
In March 2014, she was signed off from work due to work-related stress, anxiety and depression and did not return to her position.
In 2015, Ms. Jhuti took Royal Mail to an employment tribunal, and after several appeals, the Supreme Court ruled in her favour, recognising her unfair dismissal. In 2022 the employment tribunal finally recommended that Royal Mail pay £109,065 in compensation and £12,500 in aggravated damages. However, when solicitors for Royal Mail and Ms. Jhuti failed to agree on the correct methodology for calculating future pension losses and therefore agree on a final amount, Ms. Jhuti’s legal team requested another employment tribunal hearing.
The subsequent compensation awarded amounted to £2,365,614.13, including a basic award of £494,213.79 and a past losses including pension award of £1,079,165.07. H
However, Royal Mail plans to appeal the tribunal's findings, resulting in Ms. Jhuti initially only receiving only £250,000.
