Employment tribunal rules Ernest Dillon was unfairly dismissed

Ernest Dillon has been awarded £26,000 by an employment tribunal in Glasgow following his unfair dismissal by Kingsbarn Equestrian Centre.

Ernest, 61, is a Fellow of the British Horse Society (BHS) and a coach accredited to British Eventing (BE) and the British Show Jumping Association (BSJA).

In January 2007 he moved to Scotland to take up the position of director of equitation at Kingsbarn Equestrian Centre, but in January 2008, Kingsbarn director Stewart Atiken dismissed him abruptly.

Kingsbarn is now in the hands of administrators after running into financial difficulties.

Ernest told H&H he is delighted with the tribunal result — which found almost completely in his favour.

“I don’t expect I will see any of the money,” he said, “but it has cleared my name which is the main thing.”

The tribunal ruled that Ernest was unfairly dismissed, that wages were deducted without his authorisation and that his contract was breached when Mr Aitken dismissed him without warning on 22 January 2008. It also found Kingsbarn had failed to provide a contract of employment during the year Ernest worked for the centre.

But it dismissed claims of age discrimination and claims over holiday pay.

For more on this story, see this Thursday’s issue of H&H.

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