£21,000 payout for estate agency manager over desk move
Tribunal has ruled that moving former branch manager Nicholas Walker to a new desk was tantamount to a 'demotion.'
An estate agent has been awarded £21,411 after successfully arguing that being moved to a different desk position amounted to constructive dismissal.
Nicholas Walker (pictured), the 53-year-old former branch manager at Hertfordshire agency Robsons, won his employment tribunal case over what might seem a trivial workplace dispute.
The case, first reported by The Neg in March when the tribunal ruled in Walker’s favour, has now concluded with the granting of a substantial five-figure compensation award.
Moved to middle desk
It began, however, in 2022 when Walker moved from managing the Rickmansworth branch to a new position in Chorleywood.
A year later, he was asked to come back after his replacement resigned, but discovered he would be sharing management duties with junior colleague Matthew Gooder and would be occupying a middle desk rather than the back position traditionally reserved for the branch manager.
The tribunal heard that Walker became upset about the arrangement, interpreting the desk change as a clear demotion. And, according to a report in The Times, when he raised his concerns with management, Walker’s boss said he could not believe that “a man of his age” was “making a fuss” about a desk.
I am not going back … and sitting in the middle.”
Walker responded by storming out of the office and messaging his superior: “I am not going back … and sitting in the middle.” He then resigned from his role, which included being a director of the agency, and launched his tribunal claim.
Judge Akua Reindorf ruled that the back desk held both practical and symbolic importance as the traditional manager’s station and location for important business records.
Reindorf said Walker’s conclusion was therefore “logical” and that management’s conduct “was likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust and confidence”. The tribunal, though, dismissed Walker’s age discrimination claim.
According to his LinkedIn page, Walker now works at local firm Gibbs Gillespie as a sales manager.
Pic credit: Nicholas Walker/Google Streetview
