A former employee of Grimsby College has told an employment tribunal how he thought management tried to cover up fraud after he raised the issue with them.
Neil Holmes, of Immingham, Lincolnshire, claims that he was unfairly dismissed by the college after blowing the whistle.
He claims that he told principal Daniel Khan how lecturers had been asked by managers to alter class registers so the college could claim additional fees.
Mr Holmes, a Unison representative and former higher education research assistant at the Lincolnshire college, accuses the college of burying the allegations. He says the principal’s notes of his whistle-blowing meeting contain inaccuracies and omissions.
Weeks after the meeting, he found himself under investigation - charged with falsely claiming to be a whistle-blower and trying to harm a manager’s career.
Mr Holmes said: “It was eight weeks after the initial hearing when I found out that Mr Khan had appointed an investigating officer and that confirmed to me my suspicions of a cover-up.”
The hearing heard how Mr Holmes was issued with a warning after the internal probe and this decision was upheld on appeal.
Mr Holmes claimed his post was then scrapped and he got no realistic chance of alternative employment at the college. The hearing was adjourned till October 30.
