Sainsbury’s manager in Pontypridd wins more than £10,000 after boss left him off International Men’s Day post
A Sainsbury’s manager has won more than £10,000 after his boss left him off a social media post for International Men’s Day.
Darren Cooper, who had worked at the supermarket since he was a teenager, felt “humiliated” as a result, an employment tribunal was told.
Mr Cooper was on a prolonged period of leave for anxiety when his boss made the post on LinkedIn and internal company social media platform Yammer.
He became manager of the Pontypridd, South Wales store in 2010.
He took his sick leave due to anxiety in July 2022.
On November 19 of that year, his manager, regional director Matt Hourihan praised male managers who “show up for work each day, put on a name badge, and provide leadership for thousands of colleagues”.
Accompanying the post was a photo naming and tagging every regional store manager, except Mr Cooper, the tribunal heard.
It was told how Mr Cooper, who was described as having “orange blood” such was his loyalty to the brand colours, suffered from “untold further damage” to his health and the “angst” of having to field questions from friends, who asked him if he was no longer working at Sainsbury’s.
Darren Cooper was said to have ‘orange blood’ in his veins stemming from his loyalty to Sainsbury’s
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Mr Hourihan said since Mr Cooper had deleted WhatsApp and asked to not be contacted, he thought it was best to leave him off the post, the tribunal heard.
He also said he did not have a photo of Mr Cooper on hand, and felt it would be inappropriate to ask.
On November 22, Mr Cooper submitted a complaint against his boss consisting of 48 “discrete concerns”.
The investigator partially upheld one of the complaints in relation to the social media posts.
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Mr Cooper was awarded more than £11,852 for claims for harassment related to disability, and unfavourable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability.
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GETTYMr Cooper was dismissed from his role at Sainsbury’s in June 2023 after multiple discussions over when he would return to work.
The employment tribunal in Cardiff found Mr Cooper was “excluded, humiliated, and violated” when not included in the post.
He won his claim for harassment related to disability, and unfavourable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability.
Mr Cooper received £11,852 in compensation, including £7,500 for injury to feelings, £2,500 compensation for personal injury and a further £1,852,08 in interest.
Finding for Mr Cooper, Employment Judge Rhian Brace said: “Whilst the Tribunal again has sympathy with [Mr Hourihan’s] position, we nonetheless accepted [Mr Cooper’s] evidence that having people contact him caused him to feel excluded.
“It was reasonable for [Mr Cooper], as a senior Store Manager, in those circumstances for him to feel humiliated as a result, particularly when there had been nothing to have prevented Matt Hourihan from telling [Mr Cooper] of the post when speaking to him the day prior.”
The employment panel added that the actions from Mr Hourihan were a “conscious thought process” to exclude him based on “something arising from disability”.
The employment judge added that Mr Cooper had still not received an apology and the post remained online for 42 days.
