A firefighter who was sacked after a gorilla GIF was sent from his social media account to a black colleague will receive compensation following an employment tribunal ruling.
Paul Oldham, who was based in Mansfield, was dismissed by Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) in November 2023 over the incident.
The tribunal found his claim for unfair dismissal was “well founded” due to a delayed and flawed disciplinary investigation by the fire service.
The incident occurred on July 9, 2022, when the GIF was sent shortly after Oldham’s colleague had posted about MP Kemi Badenoch on Instagram.
Oldham, who had worked for NFRS since 2018, claimed his account had been hacked and denied sending the image.
Following an initial investigation in 2022, NFRS decided not to take disciplinary action against Oldham and informed him the case was closed on September 23 of that year.
However, his colleague later complained about the situation and how it had been investigated in June 2023.
The case was subsequently reopened, leading to Oldham’s dismissal.
At an August hearing, the fire service claimed new evidence had emerged but admitted this could have been available during the first investigation.
Employment Judge Broughton criticised the process, stating: “There is a fundamental problem with the way this disciplinary process was conducted, namely the magnitude of the delay.”
The judge noted that while NFRS reopened the case to obtain expert evidence about hacking, they “still failed to obtain any expert advice” in 2023 to assess Oldham’s claims.
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The judge said the service ‘failed to obtain any expert advice’
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A remedy hearing will be held at a later date to determine the compensation NFRS must pay to their former employee.
The tribunal indicated that the compensation amount will be reduced, as Oldham was found to have acted in a “blameworthy” manner by not responding to two requests from his colleague to explain the message.
A spokesman for NFRS said: “The service notes the decision of the Employment Tribunal and will now work with those involved to reach a resolution.”
The NFRS spokesperson acknowledged procedural mistakes but defended their overall approach to the case.
A spokesman said: “This was a complicated chain of events and whilst we acknowledge there were some procedural mistakes made in dealing with the case, we stand by our decision making which was done in line with our own service values and the national core code of ethics.
“As is the case with all of our operational activity, we will take lessons from this and continue to strive to have an outstanding, safe and diverse culture within our organisation.”
