An athlete has been awards £149,000 in compensation after her boss forced her to travel 800-miles for a meeting but did not turn up himself.
Beth Littlewood, a former canoe polo champion and a personal trainer at Nuffield Health in Bridgend, Wales, has had all her employment complaints against the leisure centre to be "well-founded" after spending years pursuing a series of grievances.
She said the employment tribunal outcome was "not just about me" and hoped it will benefit thousands of personal trainers similar to her.
The grievances included unauthorised deductions from her wages, holiday pay disputes and unfair dismissal.
Ms Littlewood, who first joined Nuffield Health in 2015, said there had been "multiple grievances throughout my career about pay-related issues", with earlier problems resolved internally before she felt compelled to escalate her case, reports the BBC.
From June 2022, parts of her pay began to be withheld, prompting her to submit a grievance that was not upheld.
What followed, she said, was a pattern of treatment she described as bullying, including unexplained rota changes, inconsistent handling of holiday requests, no recognition for strong sales performance and a lack of promotion opportunities.
In January 2023 she was informed she would face disciplinary proceedings, with Nuffield Health alleging she had been logging hours under an incorrect pay level.
Beth Littlewood said she hoped the outcome will benefit thousands of personal trainers like her
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The tribunal rejected the claim, with the judge finding the incidents had been trivial in nature and largely the result of poor communication.
They "should never have been escalated to the degree they were" and that "common sense was wholly departed from”, the court concluded.
Following the disciplinary process Ms Littlewood was signed off sick, and spent the summer of 2023 making repeated attempts to discuss a return to work with her managers, none of which were reciprocated.
The dispute came to a head when Ms Littlewood travelled to Brandenburg in Germany to compete in the European Canoe Polo Championships in September 2023.
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Nuffield Health said it was "committed to providing a fair and supportive working environment for all colleagues, underpinned by clear policies and procedures" in response to the tribunal
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She had submitted an annual leave request on June 7 to cover her time away and had been open with her managers about her plans, but had not received a response by August 8 when she flagged that the request remained unapproved.
The canoe polo athlete did not hear back until September 7, whilst she was already in Germany competing, when manager James Cheadle told her she had neither approved annual leave nor a valid sick note and was required to attend a meeting in person on September 12.
Aware she was on a final written warning and determined not to miss the meeting, Ms Littlewood drove through the night from Germany, covering 800 miles, to arrive in Bridgend in time.
When she got there, she was told Mr Cheadle was not present and had gone away on training.
Judge Samantha Moore said: "If there was one act by the respondent that demonstrated the contemptuous manner of the treatment of the claimant, this was it.
"To refuse leave requested months earlier, knowing what competing meant to the claimant, and require her to attend a meeting, then not bother to turn up was contemptuous and wholly unreasonable."
The judge added that Mr Cheadle "did not have the courtesy to be at that meeting or to make arrangements for someone to meet with her in his place".
Ms Littlewood, who is a survivor of ovarian cancer, represented herself throughout the entire tribunal process, saying it was "really stressful" and she had no legal training to draw on.
She said: "You don't know where to go, you don't know what to do when you're in that situation.
"I had no legal training. I just had my meticulous records that I'd been keeping. But I knew through it all, I knew what happened to me was wrong."
A remedy hearing in February 2026 ordered Nuffield Health to pay her around £149,000 in compensation.
She said: "I won't pretend the process was easy. It was years of my life and it was exhausting, doing it alone against a large employer with a full legal team behind them.
"Nuffield have over 100 clubs across the UK, and there are personal trainers in every single one of them that are all entitled to holiday pay calculated on their available earnings.
"That was what felt worth fighting for. Hopefully this is going to help hundreds and thousands of PTs in the country."
Ms Littlewood said she believed her background as an athlete had helped her cope with the pressure of the tribunal, allowing her to set aside her emotions and focus on the task in front of her.
She said that while financial compensation was welcome, "justice would look like them doing the right thing".
Ms Littlewood left Nuffield after the Germany incident, and while the 2024 World Championships in China marked her final appearance for Great Britain in canoe polo, she remains active, playing in the Spanish and Italian leagues and coaching the Danish women's team, as well as running her own personal training business.
Nuffield Health said it was "committed to providing a fair and supportive working environment for all colleagues" but said it was "disappointed with the decision" and would not comment further as the matter remained subject to appeal.