Bosses sacked over sexist ‘banter’ lose £300k claim
TWO company executives who were sacked after swapping ‘ obscene and pornographic’ messages on their work mobile phones have lost their claim for £300,000 in compensation.
Paul Wells, 39, and Roberto Solari, 36, were dismissed by their shipping company’s new owners two years after the Surrey-based firm was bought out.
Bosses said they were justified in sacking them for gross misconduct, including the wrongful disclosure of company information, the High Court in London was told.
Messages shared between a ‘blokey’ group of colleagues on WhatsApp were later discovered when another employee handed in an old work phone. The content put Mr Wells and Mr Solari in breach of contract, the firm said.
Each had posted adult images on the group, including an image of a toy Buzz Lightyear ‘holding’ a penis. Other messages included speculation about the ‘private parts’ of two female colleagues.
Mr Solari had also breached their dismissal were trumped up to deprive them of their 5 per cent shareholdings, worth an estimated £150,000 each.
The court heard Mr Wells and Mr Solari had been senior executives at PNC Global Logistics, which was bought out by Cathay Investments 2 Ltd, a multinational investments company, in January 2017.
Mr Wells and Mr Solari signed shareholder agreements and worked under the new owners for two more years. Then, in January this year, they told management were cashing in their shares, which they say are worth over £300,000 at ‘fair value’. In March, however, they were dismissed after a disciplinary hearing – meaning that under the terms of the agreement their shares became almost worthless. Bosses then discovered the WhatsApp group.
Lawyers for the pair claimed the posts stopped with the takeover, and the ‘sole reason for their dismissal’ was to avoid paying them the full price for their shares.
However, Judge Jonathan Simpkiss ruled that the sackings were justified. He stated that the contents of the WhatsApp messages amounted to gross misconduct, adding: ‘Various messages and photographs were [shared] of a highly sexist, offensive, obscene and pornographic nature. Much of the material was sent during working hours using mobile phones.
‘In a modern office environment this is not “banter” but wholly unacceptable.’
He admitted it had not been proven that the offensive messages continued after the takeover. However, he found that both men were nevertheless guilty of gross misconduct for revealing secret financial information about the company after the takeover to Mr Solari’s father, Paul, the firm’s former chairman.