An Apple employee, who was sacked for writing disparaging remarks about his employer on Facebook, has lost his hearing for unfair dismissal.
Samuel Crisps ranted about the company on the social networking site, calling his iPhone a ‘jesusPhone’ and said of one of his apps: “F***ed up my time zone for the third time in a week and woke me up at 3am? JOY!!”
The panel decided that the Facebook comments which poked fun at Apple were not private and Apple was well within its rights to sack the employee.
The worker is also poked fun at the company’s tagline when it offered Beatles songs on iTunes, which read: ‘Tomorrow is another day. That you’ll never forget.’ He posted: ‘Tomorrow’s just another day that hopefully I will forget.’
Mr Crisp worked at one of Apple’s stores in Norwich, and was sacked from his job after a collegue and friend – who was also a Facebook friend – showed the message to his booss.
The tribunal hearing heard that Mr Crisp was disgruntled after missing out on a possible transfer to the United States, which he then vented his frustration on the social network, leading to his dismissal.
When he was suspended by his boss Lindsay Cruickshank, Mr Crisp said: “I could do without losing my job.”
Mrs Cruickshank replied: “That’s not what this tells me.”
Mr Crisp claimed that he was dismissed unfairly as the Facebook posts were private, but the panel in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, ruled his sacking was harsh but justified.
Apple has a clear social media policy that bans critical remarks about its brand and the criticisms were particularly damaging because “image is so central to its success.”
The tribunal panel said: “We take into account their position that the Facebook posts were not truly private and could in fact have been forwarded very easily with the claimant having no control over this process.”
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.