A former McDonald’s manager has been awarded nearly £45,000 by an employment tribunal.

Jasmine Trueman, 25, from Union Mills, was awarded the sum following a unanimous decision by the tribunal that ruled she was ’unfairly dismissed and sexually discriminated against’.

Miss Trueman brought forward her case against KS Restaurants Ltd, operator of the McDonald’s franchise in Douglas and its owner Keith Inskip and his deputy Andrew Dossor, the franchise business manager.

The tribunal heard that Miss Trueman had joined the business in December 2015, following five years as a shift manager in the Manchester area. She was promoted to second assistant manager in October 2016.

She resigned in July 2017 citing constructive dismissal, which included a period when she was pregnant.

It criticises the ’laddish culture of salaried management where nights out drinking were followed by time off or lateness the following day in breach of their obligations to the claimant, not least when she was pregnant and in need of support’.

The tribunal heard evidence of this from February 7, 2017, when, while pregnant, Miss Trueman had been experiencing stomach cramps since her shift began at 7am that morning. Her support manager, one of the store’s first assistant managers, referred to as ’LM’, was also due to begin his shift at 7am.

However, following a hangover from a staff party the night before, he turned up at 12pm, offered no apology and told her he came in late ’because he can’.

The tribunal was then concerned to hear that at 2pm that day, Miss Trueman asked to leave early so she could go to the hospital for her stomach cramp. ’LM’ refused permission.

It states ’showing disregard for the welfare of his pregnant colleague, he left work himself at 2pm after just two hours, leaving the claimant alone again’.

She was later left to work alone on March 31, 2017, when, despite her pregnancy and assurances from the business manager, she was unable to have a break during a 10-hour shift.

The tribunal continued: ’The attitude of this management team from the outset of promotion at least, and to an extent even before, and of Mr Inskip was consistent with a pattern of sexist and discriminatory behaviour towards the claimant.’

Also criticised at this stage is Mr Dossor, who was considered by the tribunal to demonstrate poor management. ’He had the authority to ensure that his pregnant employee was looked after, but failed to deliver it’, the tribunal ruled. This was ’an abdication of his responsibility’.

The tribunal heard that Miss Trueman was excluded from the first quarter of 2017 bonuses by Mr Dossor, via Facebook messenger. However, he and the other salaried managers would be receiving their bonus.

It was ruled, following examination of store records of food safety errors, there was no evidence to suggest Miss Trueman should have been excluded.

The records did however reveal that Mr Dossor and ’LM’ and another assistant manager ’PW’ had made errors ’including some of such severity that would have warranted that they would not be entitled to a bonus and were fortunate not to be dismissed for gross misconduct for their record-keeping and behaviour’.

In April 2017, the main freezer at McDonald’s was broken and a freezer truck was hired for the storage of frozen products.

It was said by Miss Trueman in her evidence that the freezer truck was, to her knowledge, rarely at the correct temperature for storing frozen food.

The requirement by McDonald’s daily product safety checklist (DPSC) is for frozen food that is stored at higher than -12c to be discarded. The tribunal reports that during this time, the restaurant remained open for 17 hours. Mr Inskip did not challenge this assertion.

It continues: ’Such was the severity of the problems in this period with the freezer situation that food offered to the public should have been discarded.’

Further errors in the DPSC records were highlighted by the tribunal, of which it was said, in the absence of explanation from the assistant manager ’PW’: ’It is hard to escape the conclusion that not only did he protect himself and his bonus by not recording his mistakes, but he did the same for his friends, of whom the claimant was not one.

Mr Dossor at this stage said discarding food was of Mr Inskip’s responsibility and he never had a conversation with Mr Inskip in regards to the DPSC mistakes.

The tribunal later states Mr Dossor accepted Miss Trueman was a very good shift runner and that he ’warned the claimant to watch her back’ when dealing with ’PW’.

In concluding the report, the tribunal says Miss Trueman was ’driven to start her maternity leave prematurely on June 5, 2017, because of the continued mistreatment by Mr Inskip, Mr Dossor and the other managers.

It continues her ’mistreatment was explicable but not excusable because of, the close friendship and laddish culture from which the claimant was excluded; the claimant being a woman; then becoming pregnant.

’She was entitled to regard to succession of unpleasant and discriminatory and unfair treatment as down to unacceptable management behaviour.’

Yesterday Miss Trueman told the Examiner: ’I’m sad that it has come to this. However I gave both Mr Dossor and Mr Inskip several opportunities to solve grievances both verbally and in writing. They assumed I would leave without a fuss which is why I believe they continued to ignore me.

’I told them at the beginning of my employment that the bonus system they had in place was not effective or fair and they chose to ignore it. I am still waiting for a an apology from Mr Inskip himself and from McDonald’s as a company.’

In response to the tribunal, McDonald’s UK said: ’We are aware of the employment tribunal in the Isle of Man. We do not comment on individual employees, but take the safety and wellbeing of our people extremely seriously.’

The company did not respond to questions regarding food safety.