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Alcoholism and alcohol at work policies - 28-07-2008 |
Northeast Press has been ordered by an employment tribunal to pay an award of more than £20,000 after unfairly sacking its chief sub editor, in a case that highlights the importance of employers fully implementing their alcohol and drugs policies.
His legal claim was backed throughout by the National Union of Journalists and its lawyers Thompsons.
Paul Gray, who had worked on the Hartlepool Mail for 14 years and had a clean disciplinary record, was sacked for gross misconduct after he was said by the company to have sent inappropriate text messages to a junior female colleague late at night while he was on annual leave and had been drinking.
He was also deemed by the company to be guilty of “a threat of violence towards people” after an incident in ASDA on the same day in which he was refused the sale of alcohol and made to leave the store. ASDA made no complaint about the incident.
The tribunal ruled that Northeast Press, a subsidiary of Johnston Press, ignored its own policy on alcohol and drugs “in circumstances where there were clear procedures to follow and a statement that compliance would be a matter of mitigation against an act of misconduct”.
Mr Gray, a self-confessed alcoholic, was denied that opportunity, the tribunal stated. It went on to conclude that, on balance, had the alcohol and drugs policy been followed Mr Gray would not have been dismissed.
He would instead have had the opportunity for treatment for his alcoholism and to mitigate his behaviour.
The text messages came to light when the recipient showed them to a colleague in the Hartlepool Mail newsroom. The tribunal described the newsroom as “a vibrant place” where there was a “high level of banter between employees.”
The office was open plan so senior management were aware of such a culture. No serious steps were taken to put an end to it.
Despite the insistence by the recipient of the texts that she shared vulgar jokes with Mr Gray and did not wish to complain and the fact that this sort of banter had been going on for years without any action being taken to stop it, Northeast Press managers decided the texts amounted to harassment and sacked him for this and the ASDA incident.
Managers said they were not aware that Mr Gray was an alcoholic until the disciplinary hearing, a claim the tribunal said was “incredible”. In spite of the company’s drugs and alcohol policy, Mr Gray’s statement of his alcoholism during his disciplinary hearing was treated by managers as him trying to “save himself” and was therefore ignored.
The tribunal concluded:
“No reasonable employer would suddenly have dismissed an employee [for the text messages] having previously condoned sexual banter and failed to act on it in the past. In relation to the incident in ASDA, although the claimant was an embarrassment to himself and to the respondent, this was drunken behaviour outside of work hours. No reasonable employer would have dismissed for this particular conduct committed outside of work.”
In awarding Paul Gray 12 months’ pay in compensation, the tribunal pointed out that his recovery from alcoholism had been hampered by his dismissal and that he would find it extremely difficult to find alternative employment, a prediction that has proved correct.
An attempt by Northeast press to have the tribunal’s decision reviewed failed.
Chris Morley, NUJ Northern Region organiser said: “The NUJ backed Paul in what was never going to be an easy case because it is determined that employers understand the importance of not just having, but properly implementing alcohol and drugs policies. If Northeast Press had used its policy, Paul would still have been in a job today. As it is, instead of providing the support it should have done under the policy, it simply abandoned and sacked him, leaving him to pick himself up.
“Paul had been receiving counselling for his alcohol problems before the incidents which led to his dismissal and he continues to get better. But he is still currently out of work thanks to the trigger happy attitude of Northeast Press.”
Ranjit O’Mahony of Thompsons Solicitors said:
“This was never going to be an easy case and we are delighted to have received such an unequivocal ruling from the employment tribunal. The fact is that the reasonableness of a dismissal is subject to employer compliance with a worker’s rights. Newspaper industry employers need to understand that they cannot ride roughshod over those rights, as this case demonstrates.”
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