An Asda employee who showed customers his colleague’s public Facebook profile so that they knew her name and could complain about her has won his unfair dismissal claim. The tribunal found that the supermarket had not followed a fair process and had made errors in its handling of the gross misconduct dismissal.
The employee had used his own phone to show the customers his colleagues profile and he had written down her name believing he was assisting them to identify the right person for their complaint. Although he apologised and admitted to what he had done he was dismissed after being accused of maliciously trying to get his colleague into trouble. However the Tribunal found that there had been a catalogue of errors including not giving the employee the opportunity to fully respond to the allegations and establishing whether he had received up to date Data Protection training.
The case serves as an excellent reminder for employers to conduct a thorough investigation and follow a fair procedure. It also highlights the need to update and communicate policies especially around social media and data protection, two areas that can be fraught with difficulty for the employer.
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