Copyright dailymail
A veteran RNLI helmsman who was sacked for calling Sadiq Khan a 'terrorist' has won an unfair dismissal case. Long-serving Glen Monroe was dismissed for gross misconduct after three colleagues at his lifeboat station reported him for 'constant racism, misogyny, bullying, sexism and sexual remarks'. A tribunal heard the 62-year-old used the offensive term about the Mayor of London when he saw Mr Khan on TV talking about the ULEZ scheme, an employment tribunal heard. A whistleblower reported that the senior Thames lifeboatman – who confessed he had a '1970s' style sense of humour – said 'what does that f****** 'terrorist' want now: I don't know why people vote for him'. A judgment detailed how another witness 'elaborated and stated we watch the news every morning, whenever the Mayor is on TV, whatever he talks about ULEZ or other subjects he calls him those words.' The first whistleblower also 'referenced a news item on TV about 'vermin' and (Mr Monroe) said they were talking about the Mayor', a judgment said. Mr Monroe was also said to have made jokes about Pakistani people, and referred to a Polish colleague as coming 'from the local car wash', the tribunal heard. But Mr Monroe is now in line for compensation for wrongful dismissal and unfair dismissal after Employment Judge Jason Galbraith-Marten found the Royal National Lifeboat Institution 'failed to conduct a reasonable investigation of the standard required'. It therefore 'did not have reasonable grounds to hold the belief (Mr Monroe) had committed gross misconduct', he said. The judge stressed that Mr Monroe, who also runs a wedding car business, 'should not consider this judgement an exoneration' of his conduct. A claim of age discrimination was dismissed by the London Central Employment Tribunal. Mr Monroe was also said to have used the words 'nice butt' when a crew member walked past. But the judgment said that during the investigation, the reporter 'was not asked to confirm when or where this incident took place or who the female crew member being referred to was.' Mr Monroe said he had no knowledge of this event and claimed he may have been referring to the rear end of a car. The tribunal ruled that there was not enough evidence to support this allegation. ET Galbraith-Marten also heard one whistleblower claim that Mr Monroe had used the N-word about Mr Khan, an allegation refuted by the claimant. The judge found he had not called Mr Khan the N-word. An allegation that when Mr Monroe saw a black labrador dog he said 'Black labs matter' - referencing the Black Lives Matter movement - was not proven. Mr Monroe had 38 years under his belt with the RNLI, it was heard. He worked as the Thames Commander of the Chiswick Lifeboat at the station in West London. He 'had dedicated virtually all his adult life to service' after becoming a volunteer crew member in 1986. He has been a helmsman since 2001. A review in 2008 said his 'loyalty to the RNLI is unquestionable' - given that he commuted from Norwich and stayed in a small RNLI flat when working and had done for 22 years. Mr Monroe was suspended from the RNLI in February 2024 and invited to an investigatory meeting. During the RNLI investigation, Mr Monroe claimed his 'sense of humour is old school 1970s, 1980s' and said he was 'not the best joke teller' whose humour would not land with 'the younger generation'. He denied being racist and claimed that 'as a driver' with a wedding car business, he called Mr Khan a terrorist over his 'anti-motorist' policies. At an investigatory meeting in February last year, he said Mr Khan's 'whole manner is anti-motorist', adding: 'I feel terrorised by his schemes around cars…..All his schemes, not about his race, about the way he enforces his will onto the motorist. '(I) Drove for five hours this morning to avoid paying TFL (Transport for London) anything.' When asked about his Pakistan 'joke', he accepted he was wrong to have brought his 'old school humour' into the workplace but said there was no malice in the remark. He said he had never been 'approached to say what I do or how I act is wrong', but offered to change his behaviour. However, he was sacked without notice in April 2024 - despite a previously clean disciplinary record. Mr Monroe lodged a tribunal claim, submitting that he was dismissed due to political correctness, that his actions did not amount to gross misconduct in the circumstances, the RNLI did not act reasonably and the anonymity of the complainants made it difficult to understand and address the allegations. Employment Judge Jason Galbraith-Marten concluded: 'The (RNLI's) categorisation of the claimant's alleged conduct as gross misconduct without clarifying the breach, the allegation, the evidence gathered, and the decision was not within the band of reasonable responses. 'That is not to say the Tribunal found (Mr Monroe) entirely blameless given he accepted that he referred to the Mayor of London as a 'terrorist' on more than one occasion, he did repeat the 'Pakistan joke' and discussed his Polish colleagues with reference to car wash facilities.' The judge said Mr Monroe was 'entitled to know the allegations against him with a degree of particularity that would have enabled him to respond to them and that was absent from the (RNLI's) investigation from the outset.' He said the tribunal accepted that Mr Monroe's use of the word 'terrorist' was 'in poor taste and did cause offence. But he added: 'In the circumstances, the Tribunal does not find that conduct cumulatively, taking (Mr Monroe's) case at its highest, amounted to gross misconduct with reference to the RNLI's Code of Conduct nor did it justify them summarily dismissing (Mr Monroe) at the point in time that it did.' A hearing has been set for December to consider the appropriate compensation for Mr Monroe. Mr Monroe declined to comment on the tribunal outcome today.
