Friday, July 27, 2007

The Grammar Lottery

Or, have poor grammar, win $12,000.

We found this funny story today. It boggles the mind, doesn't it?

£6000 FOR OFFICE SNUB
Boss quit over huffy assistant
By John Ferguson

A FORMER council manager has won more than £6000 compensation after quitting his job because an office assistant would not talk to him.

David Moxey, 52, said he became depressed and had to resign because Maureen McMahon would only communicate by email - even though she sat just a few yards away.

The ex-lottery money manager for Aberdeen City Council was awarded the cash for unfair dismissal, despite having found a new job at a yacht club in Malaysia before he resigned.

An industrial tribunal in Aberdeen heard the pair fell out after Ms McMahon corrected punctuation and grammar in a report he had written.

Mr Moxey complained it was "like having an essay corrected by an English teacher".

That led to Ms McMahon refusing to speak to him.

The pair were both employed in November 2004 but fell out the following spring.

Mr Moxey said he was unhappy the council failed to address the issue. He started to look for another job at the beginning of last year. Soon after, he was signed off work for six weeks with anxiety and treated for depression.

The tribunal yesterday agreed he had been constructively and unfairly dismissed on the grounds that he was given no option but to resign.

However, they found he was 10 per cent to blame as he could have initiated disciplinary action himself.

Tribunal chairman Nicol Hosie said: "We were entirely satisfied the one and only reason for him leaving was the ongoing difficulties which he was having with Ms McMahon and the council's failure to address them."

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