EXCLUDING workmates from WhatsApp groups is discrimination, an employment judge has ruled.
And they are entitled to be part of the chats even if they are off sick, she decided.
SOPA Images/LightRocket via GettExcluding workmates from WhatsApp groups is discrimination, an employment judge has ruled[/caption]
The ruling came as Judge Sarah George awarded a plumber more than £130,000 in compensation.
She found Mark Brosnan should have been included in the messages which were used to share important health and safety information, although he was absent with a back injury.
The judge said his bosses should not have presumed he did not want to be bothered with work-related matters while he was recuperating.
She added Coalo, a company owned by Hounslow council in West London, “failed to demonstrate that excluding him was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”.
Mr Brosnan, 60, hurt his back in 2019 but claimed Coalo did not help him to stop the injury recurring, which it did in 2020.
He resigned in 2021 and has now won a claim for discrimination, victimisation and unfair dismissal.
The tribunal in Watford awarded him £134,411, including £15,000 for injury to feelings.