The Terrence Higgins Trust forced its former chief executive out of her job for blowing the whistle on alleged inappropriate sexual behaviour by a trustee and poor financial management, an employment tribunal has ruled.



Dr Rosemary Gillespie was the object of a “nasty, vindictive and sustained campaign of bullying” from her second day in the job at the UK’s biggest HIV charity, the tribunal heard.

She raised concerns about the alleged behaviour of the former vice-chair Paul Jenkins, whom she claimed made repeated unwelcome sexual advances towards a member of the trust’s staff at a fundraising event.

Gillespie told the charity’s chair Robert Glick that Jenkins had got so drunk, he posed a “reputational risk” and had to be taken home in a taxi by the trust’s medical director, Dr Mike Brady. On the journey, she said, Jenkins repeatedly tried to kiss Brady and put his hand on his crotch.

“Jenkins’ behaviour was a safeguarding risk, since the next time he behaved in this way it might involve a staff member, a service user, or a volunteer,” Gillespie told Glick in a telephone call the following day. But nothing was done about it, the tribunal heard.

She also highlighted the escalating cost of an investigation into the allegations of misconduct by two senior managers. Those disclosures led the board of trustees to dismiss her, the tribunal ruled.

On Sunday, Gillespie said there had been “no winners” in the case. “I took the job because I am committed and passionate about promoting good sexual health,” she told the Guardian.

“I was brought in to the charity because I have a successful track record of leading change and trustees were aware after they conducted an external ‘listening exercise’ that was a great deal of change and improvement needed at the charity when I joined.

“I am confident that, if I had been given time to see these changes through and not been treated in the way I was, I would have achieved this at Terrence Higgins Trust. There have been no winners here and the people [who] have lost the most are Terrence Higgins Trust’s service users, as well as those who have loyally supported and raised funds for them.”

On the first anniversary of her appointment, Gillespie received a glowing email from Glick about her performance. He told her it had been a “tremendous pleasure” to work with her. “I think you and I are on our way to developing an outstanding partnership and I couldn’t be more excited about working with you at the helm as we take the leap into the next stage of this great charity’s work,” Glick wrote. But, only three months later, in July last year, Gillespie was pushed out.

There were claims that turnover of staff had been too high under her leadership and that she had clashed with senior colleagues. “What the charity needed was a period of stability but what it got was more upheaval,” a former senior staff-member told the Guardian at the time.

A spokesperson for Terrence Higgins Trust told the tribunal that Gillespie had been dismissed because the trustees lost confidence in her leadership, as well as other legitimate concerns.

But the three-person tribunal panel decided that the trust’s evidence was “unsatisfactory” and “unreliable” and that “as a matter of probability … Glick’s reason or principal reason for pressing for [Gillespie’s] dismissal was that she had made disclosures”.

“Against the background of a degree of real concern about the way in which the ... organisation was being managed, and about [Gillespie’s] role in that, we concluded that it was likely that Mr Glick would be troubled by [her] disclosures,” the tribunal’s decision read.



It added that Gillespie’s “protected disclosures” had the “potential for causing embarrassment to the [trust], and to Mr Glick as [her] line manager”. The amount of compensation due to Gillespie will be decided at a separate hearing.

A spokeswoman for the The trust said: “We are disappointed with the tribunal’s decision. It is clear from the tribunal’s findings that there are some lessons for us to learn – we will carefully review these findings and take appropriate action to respond to the concerns that they have raised, including a review of our governance and decision-making processes.

“Our focus is on moving forward and continuing to prevent HIV transmissions and support individuals to live well with HIV. We have entered a positive new chapter, with a new strategy and chief executive in place, and are focused on the future.”

Jenkins stood down from the trust last month for “personal reasons”, the charity said.

• The headline on this article was amended on 1 August 2016 to more accurately reflect the article.