Call centre employees win tribunal over inappropriate messages

Two long-serving BT call-centre workers have been awarded nearly £60,000 after an employment tribunal ruled they were unfairly dismissed for gross misconduct over inappropriate Microsoft Teams messages.

The pair were sacked after joking in a private work chat about “booting” a female colleague in the genitals and referring to “belting a lassie for being lippy”. BT argued the comments could be seen as inciting violence and hate against a colleague. However, the tribunal found there was no evidence the remarks were intended to incite violence, that the colleague was aware of the messages, or that any complaint had been made.

The tribunal criticised BT for approaching the case with a “completely closed mind”, suspending both employees immediately without giving them an opportunity to respond and failing to properly consider mitigation. The judge accepted that the comments, while inappropriate and unprofessional, were made as misguided “banter” in a stressful work environment and were not meant as genuine threats.

The tribunal also noted that BT had provided no training or clear guidance on acceptable use of Teams, despite its central role in workplace communication. It found that no reasonable employer would have concluded the comments amounted to inciting violence.

One employee was awarded £26,396 and another was £31,553. This case highlights the need for employers to assess context and intent in informal workplace communication, give proper weight to mitigation, and provide clear rules and training for remote and hybrid work messaging platforms.

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Call centre employees win tribunal over inappropriate messages

121 HR Solutions Ltd