Great-grandmother awarded £25,000 amid row with bosses to give ‘naughty child’ a ‘good slap’

A great-grandmother has been awarded £25,000 after bosses told her to give a “naughty” child a “good slap”, resulting in her resigning from her workplace.

Stephanie Lee-Shields, who had worked at Exquisite Displays in Leicester for over 20 years, became the carer of a four-year-old child in May 2021, which put “great strain on her”.

The child, known only as X, placed Lee-Shields under “a lot of stress, pressure and anxiety” which resulted in her taking time off work to look after the unruly four-year-old.

The employment tribunal heard that management, who were tired of Lee-Shields missing shifts, told the great-grandmother that a “good slap” would put him in his place. Lee-Shields then resigned from the company.

Employment Judge Robert Clark stated that there had been “aggressive criticism” of Lee-Shields, before awarding her £24,725 in compensation.

The Leicester hearing was told bosses were aware of her situation from an early stage with adjustments being made to “support her”.

Directors Kevin Bennet and Maxine Carve were “sympathetic” to her circumstances, however, the court heard that Bennet was “frustrated” at having to alter her working pattern.

By 2022, X’s behaviour at school became out of control, and the “frequency and intensity” of her care responsibilities increased significantly.

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Clark said: “I have concluded that it is more likely than less likely that Carvey did make comments to [Lee-Shields] along the lines of ‘she should give X a good slap’ or that ‘X was just a naughty child’ or that ‘X just needs a good slap’.

“In what would become the last few weeks of employment there were further comments along the lines of X being naughty and just needing a slap.

“I accept that although made in the context of this over familiar relationship, and not intended as literal directions or even references to true experiences, [Mrs Lee-Shields] was increasingly concerned about references to physical violence in context of X’s life experiences.”

“She either ignored the comment or replied in a matter-of-fact way that she would not slap a child.

“[Lee-Shields] did not call out the comment beyond that, but I accept that it would have been clear the comments were received as inappropriate comments.”

Earlier this month, doctors said that parents should be banned from smacking their children to stop long-term damage.

A report in the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) said that current laws in England and Northern Ireland are “unjust and dangerously vague”.

They said it was a “scandal” that Scotland and Wales had outlawed smacking – as they did in 2020 and 2022 respectively – and the other two home nations had not followed suit.