I was sacked after asking my boss to stop VAPING in the office
A real estate agency administrator who was fired from her job said she was fired because she asked her boss and colleague not to smoke near her on the premises.
Ledan Perry, 53, worked at the Belvoir Swale franchise in Sheerness, Kent, for five months until boss Peter Huane knocked on her door last Sunday (December 3) and handed her a letter telling her she had been sacked .
Ms Perry, who lives near the Isle of Sheppey branch, worked under Mr Juan’s wife Karen and alongside their daughter Allannah – and claims she was kicked out because she asked the couple to stop smoking cigarettes near her in the office .
However, Mr Huane claims she was released for poor performance and “insubordination”. He fired another employee for the same reason in 2016 after she told a co-worker that Mrs. Juane was a “bitch” and could “stick her job up her ass.”
Speaking to MailOnline, Ms Perry claims she was a diligent employee and was only sacked because she complained about her colleagues’ constant panting, which she said posed a risk to her own health.
Ledan Perry, 53, claims she was sacked from her job at letting agency Belvoir after complaining about co-workers vaping on the premises.
Belvoir Swale Estate Agency in Sheerness, Kent, run by Peter and Karen Huane.
Ms Perry said Karen Huane, manager of estate agent Belvoir Swale (pictured), was smoking a cigarette with her daughter in the office.
Karen and Peter Huane, managers of the Belvoir franchise in Swale, Kent. In 2017, another employee was brought before an employment tribunal over her unfair dismissal, but no compensation was awarded.
An estate agent on Broadway in Sheerness has no-smoking signs affixed to his front door.
She said: “They wanted to get rid of me because I wanted to get rid of vaping. Instead of sorting, I was given a notice. They weren’t going to stop it.
“I didn’t do anything wrong and I lost my job because of it. It wasn’t unreasonable. I was the only one working there and it put my health at risk.”
Ms Perry, whose father-in-law died two weeks before she was fired, started work in August and claims she was told at the outset that smoking and vaping were not allowed in the office.
An estate agent on Broadway in Sheerness has no-smoking signs on his front door, according to Google Street View images.
She said: “When I started working at the beginning of August they said it was non-smoking (inside), there were ‘no smoking’ signs on the door.
“But on the second day I noticed Karen was smoking and my daughter started smoking at her desk.
“I told them, ‘You shouldn’t smoke cigarettes,’ but they ignored it and smoked freely. This irritated me very much and affected my health, my breathing, and I could smell this smell in the air. We didn’t have any windows to open.”
The problem continued to escalate for several months until Friday, December 1, when a new employee started working and, according to Ms. Perry, joined others vaping indoors.
She then sent Ms Juana a WhatsApp message saying: “I’m really concerned about all the vaping going on in the office. It’s unfair to me and it affects my health.
“People should be able to avoid inhaling toxins. As you know, I am completely against smoking, I have researched vaping and it has proven to be harmful to others.”
In response, Ms Huane said she would ask people to smoke outside, adding: “I don’t want this to be mentioned again as we understand you have your opinion, but telling people all the time is not fair.”
“People are adults, and just because they decide to smoke, drink or smoke, no one can judge them for it.”
However, Ms Perry claims she then received an “aggressive” phone call from Ms Juane. Before the incident, she said she was on good terms with her boss.
During the conversation, Mr Juane reportedly accused her of “wasting his time” before hanging up. Then on December 3, he showed up at her door with a letter in his hand.
Mrs Perry, originally from Iran but raised in London, continued: “OhOn Sunday he came up to me, gave me a letter and said: “You are not coming back to the office.”
“The letter stated that they were terminating my employment with immediate effect.”
The note did not state the reason for her dismissal; Mr. Huane subsequently confirmed in an email to Ms. Perry that she was terminated “for multiple reasons including… performance and insubordination.”
He added: “I understand your problem with vaping in the office and it has been resolved as advised.”
Mrs Perry was told by email that she was fired due to problems with her “performance” as well as “insubordination” – allegations she denies.
Peter Huane arrives at Mrs. Perry’s doorstep to hand her her resignation notice on Sunday, December 3rd.
An administrative employee said she asked her colleagues to stop smoking e-cigarettes indoors for the sake of her health.
Instead of serving her notice, she was given two weeks’ pay, which is twice the notice period required by law. Five months into her six-month probation period, she was released.
But she remains of the opinion that her strong stance against vaping, based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) tough stance on e-cigarette use, led to her dismissal.
She lodged a complaint with her former employer and took it to Belvoir head office in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
Ms Perry added: “I don’t want any more stress in my life while I’m arranging my father-in-law’s funeral. I can find another job, but what they are doing there is wrong.”
WHO stated last year that e-cigarettes are “harmful to both users and non-users who are exposed to secondary aerosols.”
Research in the US has reached similar conclusions, but latest UK government review in September 2022 concluded that vaping represents a “small portion” of the risks associated with cigarettes and supported their use as an alternative to smoking.
Indoor vaping is also not subject to a blanket ban under UK law as it is not covered by tobacco legislation. However, shops, pubs, offices and transport services can introduce their own bans.
This is not the first time Mr and Mrs Huane, who took over the 36-year-old business in July 2016, have fired an employee over allegations of “insubordination”.
It later emerged that they had unfairly fired another 10-year employee, identified in documents as Ms R. Riley, on December 9, 2016, several months after the branch takeover.
An employment tribunal ruled in May 2017 that there was “clear tension” between Mr and Mrs Huane and permanent staff at their new business.
Things came to a head when Ms Riley said Ms Juane could have “shoved her job up her ass” if she didn’t have free time to see her son’s nativity scene, and later had an angry confrontation 8 December, the day before she was fired.
Colleagues independently claimed to have heard the real estate consultant call Ms. Huane a “bitch.”
An employment judge found that she was unfairly dismissed because the Juanes failed to provide written reports about the investigation that led to her dismissal.
The letters they wrote to Ms Riley were written in a manner “consistent with the approach of a small employer unfamiliar with HR practices”, the judge added.
But Ms Riley was not awarded any compensation as the judge found that the conduct leading to her dismissal was “entirely caused by (her) own reprehensible conduct”.
Mr Huane told MailOnline: “We have a strict complaints procedure in place and are currently investigating the background and circumstances of this issue. Until the work is completed, we cannot comment further.”
Belvoir head office has been contacted for comment.