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Mears Vindicated

An Employment Tribunal brought by former Morrison employee; Alan Strong against Mears has been dismissed by a Judge as completely unfounded. Mears won a counterclaim against Mr Strong and has been awarded in excess of £20,000, which includes some of the costs incurred defending the claim.Strong made a series of false allegations involving a number of Morrison’s clients including ; London Boroughs of Lambeth, Hackney, Haringey, Redbridge ,Kensington and Chelsea, Southwark, Havering, Housing Associations; One Housing, Catalyst, Shepway, Circle, Rosebery and Local Authorities; Woking and Thurrock.The unanimous decision of the Tribunal was that Strong had ‘no reasonable belief in the allegations he made and there was no evidence to support these.’ The Tribunal noted that despite a number of independent investigations, no evidence had been found which would support the allegations made.The Judge went on to state; ‘The disclosures were not made in good faith but were made by Mr Strong to manoeuvre himself into the best possible position to negotiate an exit from Morrison and avoid repaying a company loan.’The damning and unanimous verdict of the Judge and panel was that Mr Strong has failed to establish that he was exposed to any fraud or that he was subject to treatment, which entitled him to resign and claim constructive dismissal. When challenged, Mr Strong conceded that the claim should never have been brought against Mears.Following a review of independent forensic expert evidence which the Judge described as compelling, the Tribunal concluded that Mr Strong deliberately and fraudulently doctored documentary evidence and lied under oath in an attempt to further his claim.Mears Chief Executive, David Miles said; ‘Mears has been vindicated.For well over a year, Mr Strong has levelled a number of serious allegations against Mears, Morrison and its staff. These allegations were completely spurious and unfounded, designed to do maximum damage to our reputation and force Morrison into settling. Whilst it may have been easier to settle in the face of “no win no fee” arrangements where mud flinging is designed to pressurise businesses into settling, this verdict vindicates Mears and we stand by our decision to challenge unsubstantiated claims head on.’We are pleased that Mr Strong has been ordered to reimburse us for some of our costs.Mears are considering pursuing Mr Strong’s former legal representative for defamation and libel’Commenting on the case, John Gregory, Group Director of Housing Services at One Housing one of the organisations caught up by the false allegations, said: "We're delighted that the tribunal has rejected Mr Strong's case. Although our own investigation found no evidence of fraudulent transactions involving One Housing staff as Mr Strong claimed, his actions caused considerable stress for the staff members he tried to implicate as well as risking significant damage to our reputation."

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