Tue, 26 Jun 2012

Kate Bleasdale, the founder of Healthcare Locums, who as Recruiter reported yesterday failed in her unfair dismissal employment tribunal case against her former company, says that “justice hasn’t been done”.

The written judgement of which Recruiter has a copy found “to a degree” that Bleasdale “directed, encouraged and/or condoned” the deliberate falsification of accounts. The 84-page judgement continues: “Given in particular the claimant’s role as a senior executive within HCL, HCL was fully entitled to take the view that this was gross misconduct which warranted the sanction of dismissal.”

However, Bleasdale tells Recruiter: “Justice hasn’t been done.” And in response to the central findings of the tribunal, that she “directed, encouraged and/or condoned” the deliberate falsification of accounts, she says: “Well, I didn’t. I didn’t encourage or condone fraud. As soon as I found out about it I reported it [to the HCL board].”

During the 15-day long employment tribunal Bleasdale claimed that she was dismissed by HCL after she brought accounting irregularities to the attention of the board.  

The ruling includes detailed emails of discussions between Bleasdale and former finance director Diane Jarvis on ways to adjust figures in the accounts so as to boost profits. These included improper capitalisation of costs, pre-dating the sale of a database and labelling management costs as exceptional items.

However, Bleasdale tells Recruiter: “There is no evidence that I encouraged her [former HCL finance director Diane Jarvis] to do anything. The judge has basically chosen to believe everything that Alan Walker [former HCL chairman] and Alasdair Liddell [former HCL deputy chairman] said.

Bleasdale says the £12m claim was not motivated by money: “It’s not about the money, it’s about my reputation. I don’t give a hoot about the money.”

As Recruiter reported yesterday Bleasdale plans to appeal.

A spokesperson for HCL tells Recruiter: “Nothing to add other than the decision by the tribunal was unanimous on all counts. We just want to draw a line under this and focus on what’s important – HCL, our staff and our locums.”