A weekly newspaper journalist has quit his role claiming he faced disciplinary action for taking his terminally-ill grandmother to hospital appointments.
John Toner, left, who worked for Newsquest titles in North London, including the Haringey Independent, accused his former bosses of an “inhuman and uncaring approach” which left him no alternative but to leave.
He published his resignation letter on Twitter yesterday , saying he was leaving the role “with great sadness.”
Newsquest has responded, accusing John of a “clear misrepresentation” of the facts surrounding the issue.
In his letter, which was sent to group editor Tim Jones, he claimed that he had been issued with a written warning after telling his company that he needed to attend another hospital appointment with his grandmother next Monday.
John explained in the letter that he had been told that he was required to work on Monday and should find alternative arrangements for his grandmother.
But he told newsroom bosses that he was the only person who could accompany his grandmother to her appointments and said it was vital she had someone with her because of her age and condition.
His letter said: “Rather than attempt to manage a situation with one of your reporters, who is going through a very difficult family scenario, you have aggressively and unnecessarily pursued a bureaucratic, counterproductive and nonsensical approach.
“You have taken absolutely no notice of what I have been saying. On several occasions, I made it explicitly clear to you that I was, and am, the only person in a position to accompany my terminally ill grandmother to these appointments and that it was vital she had someone with her, given her age and condition. In short, I have no choice.
“You have willfully ignored this and pursued me as if I were someone lolling about on company time when I have been doing what I can to help my grandmother live out the remainder of her life in as much comfort as possible.”
John added: “It is with a huge amount of sadness that I leave this role as I have loved it. I dreamed of doing this job whilst I was training to be a journalist and it is a great shame I have had to leave it because of your inhuman and uncaring approach.”
He tweeted his resignation on Thursday with the following words: “With great sadness, I resign as Haringey reporter immediately. Resignation letter to @Editor_London explaining why.”
The tweet was accompanied by a screengrab of the letter which can be read in full here.
John’s letter said he had initially worked from the hospital while taking his grandmother to day appointments but was later told he could no longer do this and would have to take annual leave.
He requested to attend the appointment next Monday but said he was told it was “simply not convenient”.
A statement issued on behalf of Tim Jones reads: “The resignation letter of 16 July 2015, from John Toner, reporter, displays clear misrepresentation of the facts and is only one side of the story.
“Newsquest London (North London) is a fair and reasonable employer and we are fully aware of our responsibilities to our employees.
“It is a shame that John has resigned in this way and has not spoken to the Company constructively about the situation.
“We cannot comment fully on this matter due to our responsibilities under the Data Protection Act, but can confirm that we always follow our company procedures, and that these have been applied in John Toner’s case.”
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Erm, this should maybe kept between you and your employer? As if you want to get constructive dismissal will all of this hinder it? But it is disgraceful how many employers lack compassion in situations like this. Good luck with your next career move and remember family is more important than any job!
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Difficult to comment here because it’s all “claims”, as HTFP rightly emphasises in its write-up. However, I agree with GoC above and would recommend Mr Toner keeps these things private, especially if the same exigencies with his nan apply in his next job – and it seems they would. On a general level of newspaper publishers extending compassion to their own employees in such situations – that’s about as likely as a senior executive donating all their bonus to charity.
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Yup, this sounds EXACTLY like Newsquest to me. And group editor Tim Jones hasn’t responded to the HTFP request for comment – no surprises there either.
All the best to John Toner. Good luck to him for the future. Hope he finds an industry to work in which doesn’t treat him and its other staff like dirt.
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Newsquest suits should hang their heads in shame, but they have no shame. Can’t see this playing on their consciences because they don’t have one of them either.
The time when companies actually cared for their staff went long ago. They are now simply numbers to be treated like robots.
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Hmm. Only one side of the story here. He doesn’t explain how often he has taken time off or how long each appointment is – an hour or so or a whole day?
Neither are we in a position to judge whether his reason for being the only person able to accompany his grandmother is reasonable.
It sounds to me as if Newsquest gave some time off but eventually ruled that in future he’d have to use up some annual leave.
I’ve no time for Newsquest – but having run news teams myself and knowing the pressures as well as trying to do the decent thing with my staff, it might just be the management have been unfairly wronged on this occasion.
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Much as I sympathize with John, using Twitter and a grandmother’s sickness to publicly hit back at uncaring bosses is probably not a wise move. This story will now probably follow him around for the rest of his career. Would a potential new boss want to risk taking someone on who lashes out in such an unpredictable, self-serving way, albeit under extreme pressure ?
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John has every right to do what he did. Politicians of both main parties stress that family needs must be respected in the workplace.
I would not have resigned, but let Newsquest carry out their threat and then gone for legal redress. It might still be worthwhile talking to a solicitor.
I had a similar issue, but fortunately was a member of Unison, which is a well-organised union. A quick phone call from them soon settled the issue in my favour.
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Hard to make a judgement on the rights and wrongs here, but in general why should there be a problem taking leave if you need to accompany a relative to hospital? All you would be doing is using up some leave time for a very good purpose – so just do it. If you were the one who was sick, then that’s totally different of course, and the company’s sick scheme rules would then apply.
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Mr Toner has sadly become collateral damage in a corporate world where businesses have pared everything back to the bone, leaving nobody to cover for situations such as this.
If there is only one reporter covering a patch and they are on holiday/sick, it is obvious there will be no back-up without some sort of rearrangement.
If companies are going to run on small staffs, it is even more imperative that managers can do their jobs properly because managing is precisely what they get paid for.
Call me cynical, but I would not mind guessing that, had a senior manager been found in Mr Toner’s difficult position, Newsquest would have fallen over backwards to accommodate them.
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As others have said there is no context here.
How much notice was Mr Toner giving his bosses? If he was letting them know two or three days before and they have no cover then I fell the company has the right to refuse time off.
I have no doubt this put him in a difficult position but even if he had to use annual leave you still cannot rock up the day before and announce you are taking a day off.
He should have got the union involved before throwing his toys (and job) out of the pram.
No other Newspaper will touch him with a barge pole now.
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I have personal experience of Newsquest in similar circumstances – delighted to help so long as it doesn’t inconvenience the company.
If the firm’s demands cause harm to an employee’s wellbeing – regardless of how well regarded that employee is – then its not Newsquest’s problem. Nice folk. I’d rather be out of journalism than work for them again.
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Newsquest being their usually flintlike company but one does wonder if this guy could have found another relative or friend to do the run. Holiday leave taken up instead. They’re an absolute shower though. A sad tale and Tim should be ashamed.
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I’m not going to comment on this particular case because we only have one side of it, but as a former joint-FoC I do know that managements in plenty of sectors take a totally unsympathetic view in these situations.
I’ve recently had a similar situation in another industry involving my family. An unsympathetic manager referred the person involved to HR – who told them to join the union to strengthen their case. Too many young people don’t realise that this is the kind of thing that unions deal with routinely, not just job cuts
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While I sympathise with his plight, in most company’s cases they will allow you some grace before forcing you to use up annual leave and if this is set out in advance he cannot have too many gripes. Not wise of him to air his dirty linen, I can’t imagine other employees queuing up if they know about this.
It is not fair but it is also not fair on his colleagues who are having to pick up the slack, given that it is Newsquest there won’t be many colleagues…
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When worked for JP my office was so pathetically under-staffed I began to resent my hard-working colleagues having holidays let alone time off for illness. I left and became human again.
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Career suicide young man. Regardless of the rights and wrongs, we are getting a one-eyed view of something that should have been kept private. It sounds like there has been some come and go in the past (as there should have been) if that is the case then reciprocal come and go from the reporter with regard to annual leave is completely reasonable
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I’m assuming John will be working out his notice and not simply walking out of the job? If he works his notice he’ll still not get to the appointment on Monday. If he “walks” he will be in breach of his contract – which will hardly encourage prospective employers to offer him a job.
Either way, John might reflect on whether using Twitter to make his scrap a public debate was such a good idea. My view is he’s been rather foolish.
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I think newspaper groups are way behind other industries when it comes to successfully managing staff, particularly on a personal level with a view to looking after their physical and mental wellbeing. In fact I think many people who don’t work in newspapers would be shocked to learn how staff are treated. I agree John may regret this outburst, but for now he will probably take some sense of satisfaction from it and if he has any sense he won’t return to the industry anyway.
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I doubt he will get another chance because all the major groups are as bad as each other. It’s become just one big cartel of corporate bullies.
I’m just glad that I was able to serve my formative years with a small, family concern that treated its staff with care and consideration.
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Sounds about right for Newsquest. Worked for a NQ regional for a long time.
Endless front pages, scoops, picked up regularly by nationals, awards, ridiculously long hours.
Treated awfully in the end. Their HR department is a shambles.
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“We cannot comment fully on this matter due to our responsibilities under the Data Protection Act, but can confirm that we always follow our company procedures, and that these have been applied in John Toner’s case.”
Rules are rules, but common sense goes out the window in the world of yes men and jobsworths.
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What kind of journalists do we want? What sort do we need? Who do we actually get?
Journalists who tell the truth? Or those who always keep their nose clean and toe the line? Yes Sir No Sir. Five stories on the website a day, sir. Is it okay if I churnalise press releases from lobbyists, local government and corporate PR offices? No problem..
As I recall I’ve never met John Toner. But I have met some excellent local journalists who these days turn over pretty quickly. Yet as corporate and government agencies become ever more polished at manipulation and PR and spinning the truth, our need for good journalists becomes ever greater.
In popular fiction we have journalist heroes. And around the world there are real examples of Information champions. (http://heroes.rsf.org/en/)
John Tanner is not a Woodstein. He is, it seems to me, simply a decent man who loves his job and wants to do it while also fitting in with doing “the right thing” for – he tells us – his terminally ill grandmother. As another journalist commented on John’s twitter feed, a decent boss would have said “what do you need?”
Many years ago a principled friend of mine walked out of a job explaining that he had put aside some “eff-off” money so he could still eat while job-hunting. I hope John has done the same. If not he’s welcome at our house for a meal.
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Like many others have said there is no context to this story, only a level of claims. On viewing, I’m not entirely sure what Mr Toner is looking to achieve by this public approach to his situation. My experience with NQ is a little different and seemingly local management levels of discretion differ by region.
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I sympathise with Mr Toner’s family situation but he has form: he walked out of a previous journo job too, also without working his notice. He sent a snipey resignation email to the editors there calling the workplace ‘toxic’ amongst a lot of other strong words….
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Got to be careful with this stuff, his name will be on Google forever now and he’ll come across as trouble.
I’d have been angry if I was him, but I’d have left on my own terms rather than do all this brouhaha.
Still, it’s easy for me to say, stress and upset means we’re not ourselves and he may have acted that way because he’s understandably got a lot on his mind, shame the situation can’t be salvaged and I hope he lands on his feet. Best wishes to his nan too.
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Two sides to every story!
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No explanation as to why he had to go with his gran. The ambulance service provide transport in such cases if needed.
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Perhaps not on Google forever Jeff Jones, presumably he will apply for his ‘right to be forgotten’ at some point.
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In a modern day company with a pro HR department it is hard to believe they would not have done everything by the book in handling this. It is very unlikely they would have handled it insensitvely. Therefore my feeling is there is far more to this than meets the eye and Mr Toner needs to come clean with the true facts. How much time did he want to take off and how often and why is no-one else it seems able to help out with caring for the sick grandmother?
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Not all companies are the same. When my wife was diagnosed with cancer (thankfully now fully recovered) Johnston Press were marvellous and I cannot thank them enough for allowing me as much time with her as we needed.
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When I worked for the Coventry Evening Telegraph in the 1990s, I needed time off to look after my grandfather, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, when my grandmother broke her hip.
‘No problem’, said then editor Alan Kirby. ‘Do what you need to do.’
That, ladies and gentlemen, is how it should be done.
It took three weeks and I was so grateful for the understanding and compassion shown by everybody at the Telegraph, not just Alan.
Good days.
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I’ve experienced some harsh employers as a journalist but wouldn’t shoot myself in the foot like John has – as tempting as it may be. At the end of the day, he’s there to work and unless the situation relates to husband, or wife, or mother or father, then any employer isn’t interested. As sad as his story is, he hasn’t helped himself with future employment. Who is going to employ him now for fear of a repeat?
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Newsquest probably did do everything by their book, but, as likely as not, gained nil points for sensitivity. As was stated earlier, staff are no longer valued, but merely numbers, who write stories into boxes.
The merest mention of disciplinary action when somebody quite obviously has personal issues can only be viewed as, at the least, poor management, and, at worst, downright intimidation.
Sadly, the days of management using their discretion and accepting that things don’t always fall into neat little boxes, are long gone.
Before my dear mother died a few years back, I spent three days a her bedside and my then employers didn’t bat an eyelid and asked if I needed more time.
Since then the bean counters and hatchet men have come along and changed everything – and not for the better.
The whole industry has gone crazy and a don’t see sanity ever being restored. Profit and shareholders now rule.
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Let’s be clear here. Mr Toner was able to file copy and work on stories while he was at the hospital with his grandmother. In effect, he was working from home (or equivalent) which we have all done to some extent or another.
I know that it would have meant he would have fielded fewer calls, being away from the office, but it appears he would have
Anyway, the following questions need to be asked.
If Newsquest London still uses the ‘Martini’ CMS (so called because it allows reporters to upload ‘any time, any place, any where’) then if Mr Toner was able to get a wifi connection of some kind at the hospital (and he had his own laptop, of course!), why wasn’t he given some leeway?
Why were there arbitrary targets? Was the Haringey Independent the sort of paper which praised reporters who cut and pasted press releases and punished those who wanted to do proper news?
How long would he have been away from the office for to help with the appointments?
Had Mr Toner been in ad sales, would the company have bent over backwards for him?
Why didn’t Vikki Birch have a face to face chat with Mr Toner, rather than doing it over the phone? Was it really that urgent?
Why did Rob Collins feel unable to deal with the matter himself? Isn’t that what news editors are supposed to do?
Is Mr Toner in a union, and if so, did he discuss this with them?
Is anyone, other than Mr Toner, going to lose their jobs over this? And aren’t there many more examples of things not unlike this happening in local papers across the UK?
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I would like to ask PROVINCIAL if he/she has been to hospital recently in an ambulance?
If not, you ought to read some of the hospital horror stories reported daily in the media ie being transported to some unfamiliar hospital 50 miles from your home, being left on a trolley in a corridor for hours and hours etc etc etc.
Another thing, where family members are able to assist in transportation, as in John’s case, it saves the NHS considerable sums in money which is better spent on treatment and research.
No more snappers comments that newspapers are way behind when it comes to treating staff. That’s putting it mildly…newspapers are bloody prehistoric!
Newsquest quoting the Data Protection Act and journalists saying he shouldn’t have put it on Twitter, there’ s lots of unintended irony there.
Seems like John’s a dead man walking now as far as journalism is concerned.
What a vindictive set-up newspapers are!
How can journalists write what they truly believe rather than what they are told to say?
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Career suicide? Probably, but sadly it ain’t much of a career any longer. I feel well out of it and it pains me to say that.
I encountered problems a few years back when I ended up on crutches for six weeks. I made arrangements for my partner to drop me off and pick me up each day, rather than get myself signed off. Everything was fine until it was my turn on the Sunday rota and I couldn’t make it. Living 40 miles from the office, you’re going to struggle to find public transport at midnight. I was hauled into an office and told I had ‘let the editor down’.
At the time I was angry but looking back I can see our team had been decimated by redundancy and we were suddenly a splash sub-down for two months. Not an excuse but clearly a manager showing signs of pressure.
Can’t help feeling this young reporter may look back on this in a few years and wish he’d handled it differently. I wish him all the best for the future.
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Regardless of the rights and wrong of this situation, why would you be so self-indulgent as to put your resignation letter on Twitter?! Feel sorry for his grandmother, but have no sympathy for the way he has made this a public row.
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If true, the employers acted badly, but this kind of thing is now widespread, many employers will give employees a disciplinary if they have a few days off sick for any reason. This young chap should have taken all the time he needed, then if anything came of it, then go to a tribunal. If they were being unreasonable and took action he may have had a case, but now, very unlikely. If it was me I would have taken as much time as I needed and more, out of spite and recorded conversations on my phone as evidence, then emailed that to the company director. I would guess it would have been brushed aside and an apology made.
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Not to defend Newsquest but, when I was working on an NQ title and had a similar situation with my mother, my gaffer – Jeff Jephcott – was solid gold.
It’s probably worked out best for all parties though. If, as many commenters have pointed out, the reporter in question never finds work in print journalism again, he should be very thankful.
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A bit surprised to see so many people criticising him for going to social media when our whole profession is built around people having the balls to speak out in public. In fact the whole principle of media in general is that the bigger the audience a message is exposed to, the more power that message has.
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I bet when they acted with undue haste, middle management at Newsquest London (North) didn’t expect to spark the furore this has caused on HTFP.
I expect, however, the sledgehammer to crack a nut approach was caused by blind panic over production of the quota of stories (regurgitated press releases).
Any news editor worth the salt should be able to manage copy flow without whining to the big chief, who in turn should be able to deal with the matter without resorting to disciplinary threats. It is called management, which is what they are allegedly paid to do.
It seems that brains were not put in gear when blind panic set in.
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So much bad reporting of this. Toner wasn’t threatened with action just for taking his grandmother to hospital. The company had already given him far too much flexibility and understanding in terms of working from hospital etc. It started to become every week which meant the rest of us were having to pick up his work. Toner admitted he couldn’t work properly from hospital. He was asked reasonably I think by Tim Jones to take it as holiday and to request time off in advance. He ignored the rules and just went ahead and booked another appointment in. The editor told him he couldn’t take it as it was very short notice as we were already short staffed with several on holiday. Toner then sent the editor a totally inappropriate email. Even less sympathy for him as he is also not the main carer for his grandmother. She has a full time carer at home so it seems she is well looked after.
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A very sad situation brought on by the way offices operate these days. However, most situations can be sorted out with a bit of lateral thinking and give and take.
It used to be the case that, if a colleague had problems, their workmates would pitch in and help on the understanding that this would be reciprocated should the boot be on the other foot.
It seems in this case the bosses have pushed everyone to the limits with a policy of divide and rule.
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I fully understand what NQ reporter is saying and it can’t be easy when these things happen. However, the fact is they do from time to time. Sadly, it is part of life.
During my 40+ years in weekly and regional papers, I occasionally had to “pick up the slack” because a colleague had family issues to attended to. I didn’t complain.
In return my colleagues covered for me when I spent time by the bedside of my dying mother. They didn’t complain and wished me well.
It seems that the problem here is that everybody is becoming obsessed with these story quotas.
This in all probability leads to a culture where everyone is watching their own backs and keeping a eye their own targets, which I’m sure Newsquest just loves.
I don’t suppose for one minute Mr Toner wanted to take time off and drop his colleagues in it.
Sadly, the old days of teamwork are long gone.
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