The writing’s on the Facebook wall for Bertram’s employee

The Mirror have reported that a man has been sacked by text after “liking” a photo of a colleague’s jumper on Facebook. Troy Garrod worked in a Bertram’s books warehouse for over four years before he was sacked. The photo was uploaded by another colleague and showed the jumper with a comment underneath, Mr Garrod’s former employer felt the photo had been uploaded to make fun of a colleague and in liking the photo, this was taken to be bullying.

It is reported that Mr Garrod had been a full-time employee at Bertrams but switched to work for a recruitment agency two months ago. He had been carrying out the same role at the company but his legal rights were reduced to that of a “temporary worker” and because of this Bertram’s were allowed to terminate his employment without further notice. The employee who uploaded the photo has been suspended.

Mr Garrod says he thought he was just joining in with the “banter” as 70 people had liked the photo and said “I didn’t know what the photo meant but everyone else who worked there was liking it so I just joined in.” He has now warned people about keeping work and their social lives’ separate on Facebook.

Samantha Nickson from Gordons says, “This dismissal seems harsh given the nature of the incident but it highlights the need for employees to be cautious when using Facebook. Furthermore, sacking somebody by text should never be an appropriate way to dismiss an employee”.

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If you would like to discuss this article in further detail, please contact Samantha Nickson, on 0113 227 0372 or at samantha.nickson@gordonsllp.com