Peter Taheri represents the Claimant in successful Facebook gross misconduct unfair dismissal claim (28 June 2010)

The Claimant, an employee working in a garage, was summarily dismissed for gross misconduct because he had posted a 'status update' message on Facebook which said that he "has a genuine ******** for a boss".
 
In the course of argument at the Employment Tribunal, there was considerable discussion of the extent to which Facebook is a private or a public forum for communication. The Tribunal accepted the argument that, in this case, Facebook was not being used as a public forum and that only a finite number of people, all personal friends of the Claimant, could potentially see the offending message. Although the intended potential audience was as high as about 200 people, the boss was not one of them, none of them were clients and only 3 or 4 were fellow employees. The message was only 'publicised' beyond that potential audience by one of the Claimant’s friends, a fellow employee.
 
In finding that the dismissal for gross misconduct was unfair, the Tribunal adopted Peter's analogy that the Claimant's conduct was "no more than the modern manifestation of whingeing down the pub with friends" about one's boss, but merely with a wider circle of friends due to the nature of Facebook. The Tribunal found that, although undoubtedly some censure or disciplinary action was merited, the conduct was not so serious that dismissal was within the band of reasonable responses.
 
Nevertheless, in view of the Claimant's conduct, which the Tribunal found was culpable and blameworthy, the Tribunal considered it appropriate to reduce the compensatory award by 50% for contributory fault.
 
The Tribunal also held that the failure to comply with any fair dismissal procedure in this case was a complete failure to act as a reasonable employer and a total and absolute denial of what Industrial Justice requires and has asked for over decades. Accordingly, the award was increased by the maximum available 25%.
 
Peter Taheri has extensive experience across the broad range of fields of employment law, acting on behalf of both employers and employees / workers.