Worker Unfairly Dismissed For Writing About Boss On Social Media

On the 13th February 2020 after a heated discussion with his managing director (Matthew Robinson) about alleged poor work being carried out by the company, a paint sprayer at A1M Retro Classics (Michael Austin) wrote a Facebook status expressing how he felt after the comments made by his boss. 

This Facebook status received a number of comments from Austin’s Facebook friends, mostly aimed at reassuring him. However, some of the comments were inappropriate towards his boss. 

When coming into work on the 17th February 2020, Austin was asked by a workshop manager to attend a meeting in Robinson’s office with a witness. Whilst Austin was informed that the meeting was to discuss his use of social media, it was not until the meeting was underway that he became aware that this meeting was in fact a disciplinary meeting. 

During the meeting, Austin was told that the employee handbook stated that he must not discuss the company on social media and Austin was then suspended whilst a decision was made regarding the outcome of the disciplinary meeting.

The next day, Austin was informed via telephone and in writing that he was dismissed without notice on the grounds of gross misconduct. Even though Autin appealed this decision, the dismissal was still upheld.

After taking the case to the employment tribunal, it was ruled that Robinson’s investigation into whether Austin breached the company’s social media policy was inadequate and he was confused about what was required of employees by the company’s social media policy. The judge also ruled that Austin was not given proper notice of the disciplinary meeting and he did not have time to prepare any defence against what was being alleged of him. 

The employment tribunal ended up awarding Michael Austin a total of £28,560 in compensation for unfair dismissal. 

What employees can learn from this case 

Understandably, some employers can get upset when their employee’s post damaging posts about their company on social media, however, the case above is a clear example that not all of these social media posts actually justify dismissal. Whilst it goes without saying that to be on the safe side, you should avoid posting anything about your employer on social media, should you find yourself in a similar situation to that of Michael Austin you may have a case for unfair dismissal, especially if you did not actually breach any company policies by posting what you did.

It is also worth noting that the case above clearly shows how incorrectly dismissal processes can sometimes be handled by employers. When dismissing an employee, all employers have to ensure that this dismissal is ‘fair’. This essentially means that they have to have a valid reason for dismissing an employee and they also have to act reasonably during the dismissal and disciplinary process. Without doing what is required to make a dismissal fair in the eyes of the law, it will be automatically unfair. 

In addition to this, in the claim above, the employee also tried to appeal against the decision and when doing so, this provides the employer with an opportunity to reassess the situation, potentially even revoking their decision. If you are convinced that you should not have been dismissed, it is always beneficial to appeal the dismissal and an employment tribunal will take this into consideration should you eventually make a claim for unfair dismissal. 

Ultimately, just because you have been dismissed by your employer does not mean that the dismissal was fair and, if it is not, you have the right to bring a claim to the employment tribunal. It is undeniably worthwhile reaching out to an employment law specialist as soon as possible once you have been dismissed to receive some tailored legal advice and they will inform you of how best to proceed in your individual situation. 

Seeking legal advice for unfair dismissals

If you would like to get some legal advice regarding unfair dismissals from an experienced employment law specialist, please do not hesitate to contact us here at Nationwide Employment Lawyers. With many years of experience behind us, you can trust that our knowledgeable team will be able to assist you further and they will gladly discuss your individual circumstances with you in more detail. Should you wish to take your case further, as the claimant did above, we can represent you from beginning to end too and we will ensure that you are supported throughout the whole process. If you have been unfairly dismissed, we can help you to get the compensation that you deserve.