Dismissed for liking a post

In the Employment Tribunal Case of D Trench v H Patel and Performance Bar Ltd.,Damaris Trench was sacked from Trebles Bar in Lincoln , after sharing a Facebook post which called the owner "creepy”. The post which was originally made by her boyfriend,  accused her boss Himesh Patel of being inappropriate with female customers. It said that Mr Patel had asked a colleague for a threesome, bought drinks for underage girls and attempted to kiss female staff members.

Damaris was employed at Trebles bar as bar staff in 2018. Mr Himesh Patel ran the bar but also socialised and drank there, leaving the management to various other staff members.

Damaris’s partner, Dan Sargeant, also worked for Trebles. After resigning with immediate effect in October 2020 after allegations of drinking alcohol during his shift, he returned home and wrote a disgruntled Facebook post about Mr Patel.

Included within this post were allegations that Mr Patel was a 'creepy and wildly inappropriate man' who 'allowed under-aged drinking' and 'did not provide his employees with breaks'. Dan also accused Mr Patel of failing to follow appropriate COVID-19 guidelines, quoting that Trebles bar was an unsafe working environment for both staff and customers alike.

Damaris agreed with Dan and shared the post on both her Facebook and Snapchat. During the Tribunal hearing, she said she shared the post because she agreed with the allegations made about Mr Patel, rather than allegations about the bar. She accepted that the post reflected badly on Trebles and so she deleted the posts soon after reposting.

Damaris was suspended and whilst off work, she raised a grievance about Mr Patel. Her grievance was not investigated and she was dismissed for gross misconduct at the end of October 2020.

Damaris argued that the decision to dismiss her for liking and sharing the Facebook post where there was no policy preventing her from doing so could not be justified. The Employment Tribunal said that Trebles Bar employs almost exclusively staff of Damaris’s generation who were more used to social media, and that Trebles did not tell staff what they could and could not post on social media. The Employment Tribunal said that Damaris had been unfairly dismissed, and that there should be no reduction from any compensation awarded to her under the Polkey principles because she had not contributed to her dismissal.

See also;

How to fight a Social Media dismissal

Unfair dismissal