The East Lothian Courier reports that Mark Morrison
worked as a sales adviser for tile shop Tile It All. When his
brother died last December, Morrison sent a text message to his
manager, Robert Selley, to inform him. He subsequently sent a text
to say he would be off sick until after the funeral.
Morrison claims that Selley phoned and told him to bring a
doctor's certificate with him on his return to work. That claim was
denied by Selley. Morrison also claims that no comment was made
when he returned to work and handed in his sick line, according to
the newspaper.
Four days later, Morrison stayed home again. He sent text
messages to his employer on five consecutive days to say that he
was depressed and not coming to work.
Morrison's employer summoned him to a disciplinary hearing and
subsequently dismissed him for failing to follow company procedures
for reporting absences. The policy stated that absences should be
notified by phone calls or sick lines sent in, according to the
report.
The tribunal deemed the dismissal unfair. When Morrison returned
to work after his bereavement, he was not warned about his use of
text messages; but when he did the same thing a few days later, he
was disciplined.
Tribunal chair Susan O'Brien said: "The company's complaint that
text messages were not acceptable was petty, and in any event the
tribunal did not believe that the claimant had been told he must
not notify absence by way of text messages. Throughout these
events, the local manager and Mr Selley were perfectly well aware
of the reason for the claimant's absence. A modicum of common sense
could have straightened all this out."
Morrison was awarded compensation of £6,977.
Ben Doherty, an employment law specialist with Pinsent Masons,
the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, said the tribunal was right to
criticise the employer's decision not to accept notification by
text message.
"Accepting notification by text one week and refusing it the
next is asking for trouble. This serves as a useful reminder to
employers of the importance of adopting a consistent approach to
breaches of employment policies and incidents of misconduct," said
Doherty.
"They cannot be seen to condone actions one day and take
disciplinary action the next. Employers also have to remember that
they can't cherry pick which employees they want to discipline and
which ones they'll choose to overlook for the same behaviour," he
said.
