Arthurworrey says she is ‘scapegoat’ as job tribunal dismisses her appeal

Lisa Arthurworrey insisted this week that justice had not been done
after she lost her claim for unfair dismissal against Haringey
Council.

The employment tribunal also rejected the claim of Victoria
Climbi”s social worker that the local authority had made her a
scapegoat.

Tribunal chair Thomas Ryan said that, whatever sympathy the
tribunal might have for Arthurworrey, she had not been unfairly
dismissed.

Arthurworrey had told the tribunal she had been the victim of a
“grave miscarriage of justice”, adding that the council had
“deliberately made her a scapegoat for its collective failings”.
She was sacked for gross misconduct in November 2002.

Arthurworrey told Community Care after the ruling it was “a sad day
for social workers and justice has not been done”.

She added that her counsel had been prevented from cross-examining
Bernard Monaghan, author of a report into the internal
investigation of staff in the Climbi’ case, on the findings of his
report and his expertise in child protection.

This would have been important, she said, because there had been
disagreement between Lord Laming and Monaghan over key issues
including whether she had had appropriate training.

A personnel manager had earlier told the tribunal that Monaghan had
been ordered to exclude senior managers from his investigation by
social services director Anne Bristow, a claim Haringey has denied
(news, page 6, 7 October).

The tribunal accepted that it was Arthurworrey’s responsibility to
hold a case conference and conduct a section 47 investigation but
that she had failed to do either. Confusion over child protection
guidelines meant Arthurworrey had been working to “flawed”
guidance, written by her then manager Angella Mairs.

Ryan said a scapegoat was someone who had been made to carry the
blame for others. But this had not happened in this case, she
insisted, because Mairs had also been dismissed. It was not the
council’s fault other staff had resigned, putting them beyond the
reach of disciplinary action.

Describing the outcome of the tribunal as fair, Haringey councillor
Kate Wynne said the council’s decision to dismiss Arthurworrey had
only been taken after a “thorough independent investigation”.