Caravan park worker, 60, unfairly sacked as bosses thought her social media skills weren’t good enough

Employment tribunal hears how managers wanted more ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ online

(PA)

A 60 year-old marketing assistant has won an unfair dismissal case after bosses ousted her because she was poor at social media, an employment tribunal heard.

Executives at Lyons Holiday Parks engineered a sham redundancy process and attempted to oust long-serving Sylvia Williams from her role as the social media pages she manages were not performing.

The tribunal heard how managers wanted more ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ online and how Ms Williams - who still adopted “historical” marketing techniques - was blamed for its ‘inefficiency’.

Ms Williams found herself “sidelined’ for new, social media savvy staff in their early 20s and was told “it was good to give youngsters a chance”.

She had online duties taken away from her, and she wasn’t even considered for a training course, the hearing was told.

The Wales-based company allowed her to apply for a new social media job even though it had decided on sacking her, then put her through a bogus redundancy process designed to “get rid” of her.

Now, Ms Williams has tried to sue Lyons Holiday Parks for age discrimination - but a tribunal threw out the claim and ruled there was no “ageist agenda” as alleged.

However, she was successful in suing for unfair dismissal as the tribunal found bosses harboured so much “ill-feeling” towards Ms Williams it “engineered” her dismissal.

Ms Williams had worked for Lyons Holiday Parks for nearly a decade when she was sacked in March 2020, then aged 60.

The Cardiff Employment Tribunal heard bosses were unhappy over its social media output and wanted a ‘shake up’.

A tribunal report said: “Directors wanted to enhance and extend its marketing to fully exploit opportunities offered by digital marketing and social media.

“[They] realised it had fallen behind its competitors in such activities, including in the number of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ of its postings.”

Ms Williams had been conducting ‘marketing tours’ with promotional vans or caravans and attending charity events rather than exploiting social media data, it was heard.

Lucy Raven, 23, was appointed as a marketing assistant in 2017 to improve its social media and online duties were shifted onto her, though Ms Williams was ultimately responsible for social media.

The relationship between marketing boss Neil Davies and Ms Williams soured and he told her ‘it was good to give youngsters a chance at work’ after Miss Raven was appointed.

In December 2019 Miss Raven was invited on a training course but Ms Williams wasn’t.

"Ms Williams was not seen as a long-term prospect in the re-vamped department given the department’s past performance and the ill-will abounding", the tribunal report said.

It added: "[Lyons Holiday Parks’] senior management... felt from observations that Ms Williams was working within her comfort zone and was part of the problem of inefficiency in her department.

"The directors were uncertain as to what exactly she did to occupy herself all day at work. The department was seen not to be functioning as it ought to for the furtherance of the business and she was, in part, blamed."

Ms Williams was told she was at risk for redundancy, and Lyons Holiday Parks made it appear there were several candidates and a consultancy process when in fact it was only her that was to be sacked.

Around the same time, she applied for a new social media role the company advertised, which attracted interest from graduates with relevant degrees.

She was given a second interview by manager Craig Moss despite him knowing her fate, the tribunal heard.

Mia Wilson, 21, got the social media job and Ms Williams was sacked.

Employment Judge Vin Ryan said: "Lyons Holiday Park created the appearance that she was pitched head-to-head in a competitive interview process with Ms Wilson.

"[They] had in fact singled out Ms Williams for dismissal and had sought Ms Wilson’s application for the Social Media role."

Judge Ryan ruled that Ms Williams was unfairly dismissed but not discriminated against due to her age.

The judge said: "We find however that if Ms Williams was seen to be performing efficiently in her department and was making full, or even better, use of social media and exploiting its potential then she may not have been dismissed.

"We find that Lyons Holiday Parks was concerned with capability and performance and not the age profile of its employees.

"It wanted an efficient department collecting, collating, analysing and exploiting data about customers.

"Ms Williams had not shown an aptitude for this, albeit the company did not specifically train her.

"She was principally engaged in other activities which for the most part the company felt were not worth pursuing.

"Regardless of her age at the time the company did not see her as an efficient, high performing marketer capable of delivering what it wanted.

"That was the cause of the ill-will on the company’s part. That was why it sought to dismiss her and engineered a so-called redundancy situation.

"There was nothing she could have done to save her employment... It was a foregone conclusion."

Lyons Holiday Parks, which has 14 sites in North Wales and Cumbria, currently has a mere 1,709 followers on Twitter, 1,378 on Instagram, and 10,700 on Facebook.

Lyons Holiday Parks and Ms Williams reached a financial settlement out of court.