A Perthshire company unfairly sacked a lorry driver for posting derogatory comments about them on Facebook.
Niall Kass, 28, who is also a Scottish kickboxing champion, was angry when the police stopped his vehicle, found its MoT had expired and served him a £60 fixed penalty.
He fumed about the episode on Facebook, criticising his employers, Gillies and Mackay Ltd, a timber building manufacturers of Errol, for not doing their job properly.
An employment tribunal said Kass had every right to be upset when, because of his employers’ shortcomings, he received the fixed penalty notice.
However, Kass, of Aberdalgie, Perthshire, was said to have contributed to his sacking and the tribunal reduced his compensation by 20% to £1,160.
His message, posted on Friday October 26, was seen by up to 100 Facebook friends and one of them was the company’s business manager, Carra Marshall.
She was extremely angry and annoyed, thought the MoT was the driver’s responsibility and immediately asked him to remove the message.
She thought it showed a lack of respect for the company, was uncalled for and would be damaging to the business.
Kass, who thought it was a joke, had made the original posting on his iPhone but did not know how to delete it on that device.
That night Ms Marshall told her father John Mackay, one of the two directors. He saw the message, was angry and decided: “We just have to get rid of him.”
He telephoned Kass the next morning, made it clear he was upset and told him he would see him on Monday morning. That evening Kass removed the post on his parents’ computer.
On the Monday Kass was handed a letter saying the company considered his actions constituted serious misconduct warranting summary dismissal.
The next day, after receiving advice, they wrote to him again saying his actions could have been retrieved if he had removed the post when asked.
His refusal made the company consider his contract of employment was no longer tenable.
Kass appealed and the hearing, dealt with by another director, Grant Gillies was unsuccessful.
Employment tribunal judge Ian McFatridge said the company accepted there were procedural defects in the dismissal.
A letter of dismissal had been prepared in advance of the meeting and Kass did not get a chance to provide an explanation. There was an appeal but it was not handled independently.
His comments could not be seen by the public at large and the tribunal considered the company overreacted.
They said pre-Facebook, Kass would have “vented his frustration by telling his friends and family of the incident directly or on the telephone,” and this would not have been grounds for instant dismissal.