An employer has been ordered to pay more than £26,000 to a former employee for deliberately coughing in her face during the Covid pandemic.

Kevin Davies, the father of Wales rugby player Gareth Davies, aimed to “ridicule and intimidate” the woman over her health concerns, a tribunal heard.

Davies, 62, mocked the employee of his car sales and property business just days before the lockdown after she expressed her health fears to colleagues.

The woman had asked fellow workers at Cawdor Cars to socially distance from her, as recommended by officials, because she suffered from psoriatic arthritis and an autoimmune condition.

Employment judge Tobias Vincent Ryan stated that Davies “coughed in her direction deliberately and loudly, commenting that she was being ridiculous.” Judge Ryan said Davies set out to “ridicule and intimidate” the woman with his “gross behaviour” on 17 March 2020, a week before the first lockdown was announced.

The tribunal heard the woman had worked for Cawdor Cars in Newcastle Emlyn, west Wales, between 2017 and 2020, earning £11 an hour. The company has six branches across south and west Wales and a property rental section where she worked as a property manager for its portfolio, including hotels and housing developments.

Judge Ryan found that other members of the firm’s management team overheard the coughing incident but came across “defensively and as not being wholly straightforward” when giving evidence in the tribunal.

The woman complained “vehemently” about the coughing incident and resigned from the business less than three months later.

Ryan said: “She resigned at least in part because she was victimised; this was a major and significant factor in her decision. She felt that she was being eased out partly because of her complaints. She was correct.”

The judge ordered that the woman receive a payout of £26,438.84, with Cawdor Cars handing her £18,000 in damages for injury to feelings and Davies paying £3,841.94 for unfair dismissal and £4,596.90 in interest.

Speaking after the hearing, the woman said she was left a “nervous wreck” after Davies’ “horrendous” conduct. She said: “He knew of my medical condition. He knew I had no immune protection because of the medication I had to take, and he deliberately coughed in my face. I was shaking. I’m not a silly, fluffy person – I’ve had to put up with a lot in my life – but it really got me.”

Davies’ son Gareth is nicknamed Gareth Cawdor due to his connections to his father’s business. He has 77 international caps for Wales and has twice toured with the British and Irish Lions.