A FORMER Merseyside care home manager who claimed her employers had forged inspection documents has won her case for constructive dismissal.

Carole Boden, a 62-year-old care manager at Polder Care homes, in Hoylake and Rock Ferry, told the tribunal in April she refused to fake a series of routine inspection documents, sparking months of bullying and humiliation.

Matters came to a head when Miss Boden was forced to go into work on a day off, instead of going to the funeral of a friend.

But when she did go in that day, the tribunal heard, she was obstructed by managers from doing any real work and ended up isolated in an office watching training videos.

In a hard-hitting written judgment released last night, employment judge Keith Robinson called the care home owners and senior management “vindictive” and “small-minded”.

He said: “We came to the conclusion that action was done out of spite by management.”

Miss Boden, of Prenton, said: “It has still not sunk in yet. I am in shock.

“It was a very long time coming and I am just so relieved I was believed.

“Maybe I will stop reliving it all now.”

Her case against Henk de Rooy, owner of the care homes in Melrose Avenue, Hoylake, and Knowsley Road, Rock Ferry, began on November 25, 2007.

Mr de Rooy sent in his daughter, JaneFlemming, to carry out a Commission for Social Care inspection.

Miss Boden objected, saying any such inspection must be carried out by an independent qualified person.

She told the tribunal: “Jane can hardly be described as independent. She was an employee at the time, the daughter of the owner and was working for Polder Care to repay a debt to her father. The figure of £11,000 sticks in my mind.”

Mr Robinson said: “We have no reason to suspect the claimant was unreliable. We did not hear from Mr de Rooy and so the respondent could not dispute the claimant’s account.”