Judge rules unfair dismissal due to workplace culture
Initially fired for referring to a female colleague as a "f***ing mong," a delivery rider's dismissal has been ruled unfair due to the company's "lawless and toxic" workplace culture.
Robert Ogden was sacked just over a year ago at wholesale company Booker for uttering offensive language during a heated discussion in the office about doughnuts and attending a weight-loss club, The Times reported.
"No wonder it takes you 19 weeks to lose a stone. It hasn't taken me 19 weeks," Ogden also told the colleague, as quoted by the news outlet.
The tribunal heard that Ogden's comment left the female colleague feeling "violated and shocked," prompting her to file a formal grievance for bullying. She described the rider's behaviour as "aggressive," which culminated in her reporting him to management, leading to his dismissal.
Ogden's dismissal letter acknowledged "some failings by the business" regarding his suspension and the subsequent investigation, according to The Times report.
In the tribunal, Ogden claimed that such conduct was tolerated, with comments like "chubs" being regularly used in the workplace.
He argued that he was "singled out" for punishment, noting that other breaches of the dignity-at-work policy were ignored. He also accused the managers of being "part of the problem" in the office.
Harsh, unfair dismissal decision
Despite the vulgarity of Ogden's remark, Judge Jetinder Shergill ruled that his dismissal without warning was "harsh" and unfair, The Times reported.
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Shergill asserted that swearing has become commonplace in northern England: "Swearing should not be acceptable in a workplace, although common everyday experience, particularly in the north, is that the F-word is used quite often, spoken in the public sphere."
The judge also concluded that Ogden's actions should have been evaluated within the context of the organisation's workplace culture.
"There was a failure to assess [his] behaviour in [the] context [of] a toxic, dysfunctional office, where the managers in the office were complicit in that dysfunction," the judge ruled, as quoted by The Times.
Ogden is now entitled to compensation, which will be determined in a future hearing.