CALLING the boss a “d***head” need not be a sackable offence, an employment tribunal ruled.
The insult would not necessarily amount to gross misconduct if uttered “in the heat of the moment”, it said.
It comes after £40,000-a-year office manager Kerrie Herbert lashed out at a meeting in 2022.
She feared she was being laid off from building firm Main Group Services, run by Thomas Swannell and his wife Anna in Northampton.
When issues about her performance were raised, Ms Herbert began crying.
The Cambridge tribunal heard she then said: “If it was anyone else in this position they would have walked years ago due to the goings-on in the office, but it is only because of you two d**heads I stayed.”
Mr Swannell replied: “Don’t call me a f***ing d***head or my wife. That’s it, you’re sacked. Pack your kit and f*** off.”
Ms Herbert said she asked if he was really firing her, and her boss answered: “Yes I have, now fuck off.”
Ms Herbert’s contract said she could be fired for insulting language but with prior warning.
She sued for unfair dismissal and was awarded £29,129 in compensation and costs.
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