Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Latest NewsDismissalEmployment tribunalsUnfair dismissalSocial media

Sainsbury’s employee dismissed for Facebook post wins case

by Ashleigh Webber 22 Jun 2018
by Ashleigh Webber 22 Jun 2018 Dinendra Haria/REX/Shutterstock
Dinendra Haria/REX/Shutterstock

A former Sainsbury’s employee was unfairly dismissed after an investigation into whether he had committed an act of gross misconduct was not approached with an open mind, an employment tribunal has found.

Mr D Kurmajic was dismissed by the company in May 2017 after he posted details about a driver who had used the supermarket’s car park – including his name, age, car registration number and address – on Facebook.

Unfair dismissal

What are the qualifying conditions required for an employee to bring a claim of unfair dismissal?

Are there any employees who are not covered by unfair dismissal legislation?

He and other employees had assisted the driver when his car became stuck on a ramp. A colleague posted photos of the incident on a personal Facebook page, under which Kurmajic posted the details in an attempt to question the driver’s fitness to drive.

The Facebook post was shown to the store manager, who formed the view that Kurmajic had potentially committed an act of gross misconduct as it violated the company’s social media policy. This opinion was passed onto a departmental manager, who investigated the incident.

A day after the Facebook post was made, Kurmajic was given a letter stating that he was suspended on full pay for “bringing the brand into disrepute” and for breaching its “keeping our information safe” policy.

He was invited to a suspension hearing, in which Kurmajic claimed he told the department manager that he would not do it again. However, the notes passed on to the store manager suggested that the employee had insisted he would post again given the chance, and did not understand why what he did was wrong. He was dismissed following a subsequent hearing with the store manager in a letter that said his post had brought the company into disrepute.

The employment tribunal found that although the store manager was aware of alternatives to dismissal, he did not give any more than “superficial” consideration to any other sanction.

Kurmajic appealed against the company’s decision internally. He claimed he had not breached the social media policy as it referred to “customers” – it was unclear whether the driver had been a customer, as the car park could be used by other drivers. He also admitted that he had not looked at the social media policy in detail before the incident, and proposed that he should have received training.

Although the employment tribunal found that the Facebook post was a potentially fair reason for dismissal, its issue lied in the way the investigation was conducted and the way in which the store manager approached the case.

Judge Sara Woffenden said: “This predisposition as to the seriousness of the claimant’s conduct made [the store manager] careless. He did not pay attention to detail in his reading of the investigation notes, the letter inviting the claimant to the disciplinary hearing and the letter confirming the outcome of the disciplinary hearing nor did he make himself sufficiently familiar with the contents of the policies which it was alleged the claimant had breached. It also unreasonably limited his approach to considering any alternatives to dismissal.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

It also found that damage to the brand could not have been relied upon as a reason for dismissal as no damage had been done – the driver had taken no action.

The judge ruled that as Kurmajic was partly to blame for his dismissal, his compensation award would be reduced by 30%. The parties were given 28 days to decide how much compensation was owed.

Sainsbury's
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support.

previous post
Better access to lung exercise classes could help tackle sedentary lives
next post
Growing your business with apprenticeships on-demand webinar

You may also like

Restaurant tips should be included in holiday pay

21 May 2025

Black security manager awarded £360k after decade of...

20 May 2025

Minister defends Employment Rights Bill at Acas conference

16 May 2025

CBI chair Soames accuses ministers of not listening...

16 May 2025

Union rep teacher awarded £370k for unfair dismissal

15 May 2025

Tribunal finds need for degree in redundancy selection...

14 May 2025

Construction workers win compensation claim against defunct employer

9 May 2025

NHS worker awarded £29k after Darth Vader comparison

8 May 2025

Employment tribunal backlog up 23% in a year

7 May 2025

Lincolnshire doctor awarded £250k in race discrimination case

2 May 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+