Payout for Sainsbury's manager left off social media post
A tribunal ruled that he had been “humiliated” by the post marking International Men's Day
A Sainsbury’s store manager who was left off his boss’s International Men’s Day social media post has been awarded £12,000.
Darren Cooper was on leave for anxiety when his regional director uploaded a post celebrating the male leaders who “all show up for work each day, put on a name badge and provide support, guidance and leadership”.
When he saw he was not included, Mr Cooper was left feeling “excluded, humiliated and violated”, the employment tribunal in Cardiff heard.
The tribunal ruled that he had been “humiliated” by the post and he won his claim for harassment related to disability and unfavourable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability.
A later remedy hearing decided he will receive £11,852 in compensation, including £7,500 for injury to feelings.
Mr Cooper began working at Sainsbury’s in 1993 and said he had “orange blood” – a reference to the colour of the chain’s branding – the tribunal heard.
In 2010, he became manager of the Pontypridd store in South Wales, the tribunal was told.
He took sick leave due to anxiety in July 2022.
In November, his line manager Matt Hourihan posted on Yammer and LinkedIn to celebrate International Men’s Day, it was heard.
Mr Hourihan wrote: “I’d like to take a moment to celebrate the male leaders in my team and say thank you for all that you do to help make our stores across South Wales, Gloucestershire and Worcester places where colleagues love to work and customers love to shop.
“All of you do this whilst leading busy lives outside of work too, dealing with health, family and personal issues in the same way that everyone else does, yet you all show up for work each day, put on a name badge and provide support, guidance and leadership to the thousands of colleagues that work on our region.
“Thank you & Happy International Men’s Day everyone! Matt #internationalmensday2022 #sainsburys.”
Accompanying the post was a photo of every regional store manager named and tagged, except Mr Cooper, the tribunal heard.
He suffered “untold further damage” to his health along with the “angst” of having to field questions from friends and colleagues asking him if he had left Sainsbury’s, the tribunal heard.
Mr Hourihan said that as Mr Cooper had deleted WhatsApp and said he did not wish to be contacted, he thought it best to leave him off the post.
He added that he did not have a photo of Mr Cooper and thought it inappropriate to ask.
After many discussions over when Mr Cooper would return to work he was dismissed in June 2023.
He sued for disability discrimination, harassment, unfavourable treatment and unfair dismissal.
The panel ruled: “The cause of the treatment was the conscious thought process of Matt Hourihan to not include (Mr Cooper) from the post as he was absent and therefore this amounted to unfavourable treatment because of something arising from disability.”
Mr Cooper’s claims of disability discrimination and unfair dismissal were dismissed by the tribunal.