Welsh dealership fined £26,000 for deliberately coughing on employee during pandemic

The owner of a Welsh dealership group must pay over £26,000 to a female employee for deliberately coughing in her face during the pandemic.

Kevin Davies who owns Cawdor Cars, a dealership with six branches across Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, was found to have mocked the employee who had requested that fellow workers maintain social distancing because she suffered from psoriatic arthritis and an autoimmune condition.

Judge Tobias Vincent Ryan stated that Davies had deliberately 'coughed in her direction deliberately and loudly, commenting that she was being ridiculous’.

He described Davies' actions on March 17, 2020 - a week before the first lockdown was announced - as a deliberate attempt to 'ridicule and intimidate' the woman.

The employee had worked at Cawdor Cars from 2017 to 2020, earning £11 an hour as a property manager.

Judge Ryan noted that other members of the firm's management team overheard the coughing incident, but when they gave evidence at the tribunal, they appeared ‘defensively and not wholly straightforward’.

The tribunal heard that the woman vehemently complained about the incident and resigned from the business in Newcastle Emlyn, Ceredigion, less than three months later.

Judge Ryan concluded: "She resigned at least in part because she was victimised; this was a major and significant factor in her decision. She felt she was being eased out partly due to her complaints. She was correct."

The judge ordered a payout of £26,438.84, with Cawdor Cars paying £18,000 in damages for injury to feelings and Davies paying £3,841.94 for unfair dismissal and £4,596.90 in accumulated interest.