A part-time university cleaner has been awarded £264,442 in compensation for unfair dismissal and victimisation, following a tribunal ruling that she was sacked after a dispute over a student's rice cooker. Peak Ong, then 69, successfully brought her case against Aberystwyth University, where she had worked 15 hours a week as a cleaner since 2014. The employment tribunal heard that her dismissal stemmed from long-standing animosity with her manager, Catherine Green, which intensified after Ms Ong was accused of buying a rice cooker for a student whose appliance had been confiscated due to a university ban. The Welsh university had argued Ms Ong was dismissed for failing to improve her behaviour after mediation. However, the Birmingham tribunal identified significant flaws in her disciplinary process. It also found that Aberystwyth University provided a detrimental reference when Ms Ong sought new employment.…