Car dealer unfairly sacked for friends’ ‘shirtlifter’ jibe

A CLASSIC car dealer should not have been sacked after his friends called his boss a “shirtlifter”, a tribunal has found.

Car paint specialist Michael Austin has been awarded £28,560 in compensation for unfair dismissal after a judge ruled he could not be expected to “police” comments made by others on his personal Facebook page.

Mr Austin worked for Matthew Robinson for six years at A1M Retro Classics in Darlington, Co Durham.

He complained on Facebook after an argument at work, and wrote: “I don’t think I have ever felt so low in my life after my boss’s comments today.”

His friends posted comments calling Mr Robinson, who is gay, a “shirtlifter” – an offensive term for a gay man – before one friend suggested he should “punch (him) in the face”.

Mr Robinson sacked Mr Austin soon after. He accused him of bringing the company into disrepute.

But employment judge Declan O’dempsey ruled the incident had not violated the social media policy of the company.

“Mr Robinson accepts there was no duty on Mr Austin to police the conduct of participants in this Facebook discussion,” he said. “In those circumstances he cannot be expected to be repentant in any relevant way for something which is not within his own conduct.”

Judge O’dempsey also found that the internal misconduct investigation was “flawed”, as no evidence suggested the reputation of the firm was damaged outside of Mr Austin’s group of friends.