A SALES assistant who was fired after she posted an expletive-laden message about her boss on a Bebo social networking website, has been awarded €4,750 compensation by an Employment Appeals Tribunal.
The tribunal found that the decision by A Wear, Grafton Street, Dublin to dismiss Emma Kiernan, Ferns Road, Crumlin, Dublin was disproportionate.
"While their disciplinary procedures were fair and proper their sanction was not," the tribunal said in a determination yesterday. The events that led to Ms Kiernan's dismissal started in March 2007 when an A Wear customer contacted a member of staff and drew her attention to comments posted on the Bebo site.
The comments read: "heya no I was in bits this morning getting sick!!dunno y!!!! tried ringin work from 7.30 but couldn't get through wit the phone bein broke and was rinin head office but no body was in.
"gotthrough 2 h.o. at about 9 and they transferd me down but no body answered so I rang Y and toldher 2 tell X (the manager in question), she rang me at 9.30 askin y iwasn't in and I told her thewhole story and she called me a lier and said the phone never rang on the floor all morning . . . headoffice even got back 2 me and said that no body was in and 2 ring back later!!! I f**in hate thatc**t. Im gonna go in2 here 2 mro and show her all the times I rang in the morning. callin me a lierf**kin cheek!!"
Ms Kiernan, who had worked for A Wear since 2003, apologised for the comments and said she regretted making them. She said she was having a bad day, was under pressure and was reacting to a false contention made by that particular manager. Her comments were posted on her friend's site, which in turn was linked, albeit indirectly, to the A Wear site on the Bebo network.
She was suspended and then dismissed because her behaviour was regarded as gross misconduct.
The tribunal found that Ms Kiernan's comments deserved strong censure and possible disciplinary action but they did not constitute gross misconduct in the circumstances.