A FORMER district council benefits employee has accused the council of launching a witch hunt against him after he criticised its management in an email which was leaked to the Free Press. Stephen Hale sparked a storm of controversy when he accused West Somerset Council of operating in a climate of "image, spin and change" to the detriment of the area's residents in an internal email to colleagues and councillors. This week Mr Hale contacted the Free Press for the first time to speak of what he claimed was a "character assassination" and "vendetta" launched against him as a result of his views. He said that, two days after his email was sent out within the authority, he was ordered to attend a disciplinary hearing on June 14 to answer a charge of gross misconduct. As he was scheduled to be on leave on that date, he asked for an alternative date for the hearing, but his request was dismissed. He said he was then told that, as he had failed to attend the scheduled hearing, a note would be put on his file that he had left the employment of the council with an unresolved disciplinary hearing against him which could have resulted in his immediate dismissal. The council's media and PR officer Stacey Beaumont said it had been impossible to meet Mr Hale's request to reschedule the hearing as he was on leave until he ceased his employment with the authority on June 18. She said: "It would have meant holding a hearing after his leaving date and we cannot discipline a person who is no longer an employee." She said the council had followed both its own internal and national statutory requirements in notifying Mr Hale of the hearing and added: "Naturally we are sad a former employee is so disaffected, although we cannot understand why he did not use the grievance procedures available to him at the time." But she declined to comment on further allegations made by Mr Hale who said he had subsequently heard that "certain members" of the council were "extremely angry" and had made inquiries about "discrediting" him with future employers. Mr Hale said: "Following advice from the human resources section, it was decided that it wouldn't be advisable to follow that route - it's a pity because I would have relished the legal implications an action such as that would have had for the council. "It also appears that my name has been blacklisted through the email system and any communication containing my name is quarantined for censorship purposes." He accused the council of "embarking on a campaign of character assassination" against him and claimed he was now been branded as "unproductive" even though he believed he had met all his targets. Mr Hale said: "It just surprises me how much a relatively junior member of staff can worry senior management to this extent merely by expressing a personal view. Perhaps as their subsequent actions proved, I got a little too close to the truth." Ms Beaumont said the council would not comment "on those sort" of allegations. In his original email, Mr Hale, who lives in Minehead, said the council's benefits team had been all but decimated in the last six months and staff morale was suffering across the authority. He wrote: "The people we serve are the very people we live next door to - unfortunately that basic fact seems to have been sacrificed in the present climate of image, spin and change." Of the benefits department he added: "Morale has suffered considerably and the stress levels along the remaining staff have increased accordingly, in line with the huge additional workload they now have to contend with." His comments struck a chord with members of the council's performance committee who called for an in-depth report on the state of the benefits department after being told performance levels had plummeted since the beginning of the year. That report is due to be discussed on Monday and many of Mr Hale's claims about understaffing appear to be vindicated. Although councillors will be told overall the department performed at a "reasonably constant level" which was close to the national average during 2005-06, the committee will be told performance did fall at the beginning of the year due to staff losses, the closure of the office at Christmas and a system shutdown in March. As a result, staff are now being helped to work from home, an existing employee has been temporarily seconded to the department for two days a week, another temporary employee has been taken on to cover admin duties and other staff would be called on in due course to help with the "implementation of document management". Mr Hale said he believed many concerns regarding morale and stress were still a long way from being addressed and thanked his colleague for their support and for highlighting his concerns.