tribunal<\/a> found Ogumodede \u201cdeliberately\u201d concealed her second job from her employer as she knew it breached regulations, and ruled that there were \u201cstrong health, safety and public interest considerations\u201d that supported the sacking.\u00a0<\/p>\nBackground<\/p>\n
Ogumodede was hired as a cleaner by Churchill Contract Services on 5 April 2004, which provided cleaning services for Deutsche Bank.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She began a second role cleaning at the Houses of Parliament on 20 November 2008, which was managed through another external company, KGB Cleaning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ogumodede hid the fact she had another job in her employee declaration, meaning she would work Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm at Deutsche Bank and 10pm to 6am at the Houses of Parliament.<\/p>\n
This arrangement continued for several years until Churchill Contract Services took over the Houses of Parliament contract in May 2023. This meant both Ogumodede roles now came under the same employer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A month later, Churchill Contract Services realised Ogumodede was working two full-time jobs, and a meeting was called to discuss concerns about her working hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because her roles breached the minimum requirement for 11 hours\u2019 rest between shifts, she was suspended from the Houses of Parliament contract with no pay while the company investigated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the meeting a company spokesperson said they were \u201cconcerned\u201d about Ogumodede\u2019s working hours, claiming she was not getting enough rest. They suggested this could negatively affect Ogumodede\u2019s physical and mental health and create reputational risks for the business as it increased the likelihood of mistakes and accidents. The company said it was necessary to suspend her as a matter of legal compliance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ogumodede claimed she felt \u201cvery well\u201d and rested properly on the weekends, saying she was able to perform both roles to a high standard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On 19 August 2024 she submitted a grievance about her suspension, and there was another meeting on 12 September where she was offered a part-time role at the Houses of Parliament from 6pm to 9pm. However, she complained that her suspension without pay was unlawful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On 16 October Ogumodede was invited to another meeting to see if the company could accommodate her desired working pattern while observing legal compliance. She was asked again if she wanted to work part time at the Houses of Parliament, but she refused this offer, saying this was because she had been laid off for three months before it was offered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her employment was terminated on 28 October.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Judge\u2019s ruling\u00a0<\/p>\n
Employment judge Woodhead ruled that Ogumodede\u2019s dismissal was \u201cclearly fair\u201d and said the company took a \u201creasonable approach\u201d that was \u201cfavourable\u201d to Ogumodede in offering her part-time work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said Ogumodede failed to meaningfully engage with these discussions, stating that there were \u201cclearly strong health, safety and public interest considerations behind the restrictions on working time\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTiredness, particularly associated with night work, creates an increased risk of an individual making mistakes, not just in the workplace but also in the wider world. The negative health implications of excessive hours on top of night work also have a potential cost to society,\u201d Woodhead added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a result, he found that the company\u2019s decision to dismiss her from the second role was clearly in the band of reasonable responses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Expert comments\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kate Kapp, employment partner at Doyle Clayton, said that the judge\u2019s decision focused on Ogumodede deliberately hiding the fact she was working two roles, as she knew she was breaching Working Time Regulations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are special rules relating to night workers, and it is important to properly monitor your staff to ensure that they are taking minimum breaks and holidays,\u201d she explained. \u201cThis is not an issue employers can afford to ignore.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Complying with these regulations is important to avoid reputational damage and employment tribunal claims and for the health and safety of all workers, Kapp added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, if employers find an employee has a second job that may breach Working Time Regulations they should avoid knee-jerk reactions, she said: \u201cHaving a fair reason to dismiss is vital, but so too is following a fair process and investigating if and why someone is working in breach of the rules.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For more information, read the CIPD\u2019s guidance on planning and managing flexible working<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cleaner who covertly worked two full-time jobs for 16 years has lost her employment tribunal claim for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[79,18,19,17,227],"class_list":{"0":"post-111371","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-jobs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}