Golf club pro fired over colleague’s false allegation

A golf club professional at a country club was fired after wrongly being accused of making “unwanted advances of a sexual nature” towards a junior female colleague. 

Mark Sturgess lost his job at the exclusive Cambridge Country Club over alleged comments made towards front-of-house Amanda Clark.

The PGA pro was alleged to have told Ms Clark in the club shop: “You smell so good I could lick you all over.”

He was also accused of messaging Ms Clark inappropriately and joking that another colleague looked like sexual predator Jimmy Savile.

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A complaint was made by Ms Clark and Mr Sturgess was sacked in June 2022 following a disciplinary hearing conducted by the club’s general manager David Macdonald.

However, Mr Sturgess has now won an unfair dismissal case after a tribunal found he did not make the ‘lick you all over’ remark or the comment relating to Savile.

It was found by the Employment Judge Kerrie Hunt that Mr MacDonald’s investigation had “inconsistencies”, and he did not interview witnesses over the Savile comment.

Mr Sturgess is now set to receive compensation from the Cambridge Country Club, where he has worked since 2010.

However, his compensation will be reduced by 40% after it was also found by the tribunal that Mr Sturgess had messaged Ms Clark late at night asking her ‘how do you manage to look so good everyday?’

A report said: “He felt the complaint from Ms Clark was due to a clash of personalities ‘business wise’ and to a breakdown in their working relationship after Ms Clark was promoted, in relation to her trying to take charge in the shop and with the golf societies.”

The judge concluded that a final written warning was most appropriate for Mr Sturgess.

“I conclude that the club did not carry out a reasonable and sufficient investigation,” the judge said.

“The allegations were categorised as gross misconduct with serious consequences for Mr Sturgess.

“There were some basic yet fundamental details of the allegations against Mr Sturgess that [Mr Macdonald] did not make enquiries about or further investigate the details, including the time and date and potential witnesses of the ‘lick you’ comment.”