Calling Your Boss A D***head Is Not A Sackable Offence, Tribunal Rules

A tribunal has ruled that calling your boss a d1ckhead is not a sackable offence, after a woman won almost £30,000 in compensation after she was found to have been unfairly dismissed.

Kerrie Herbert was sacked on the spot when – during an argument – she called her manager and a company director (the manager’s wife) d1ckheads.

Employment judge Sonia Boyes ruled that the scaffolding and brickwork company she worked for had not “acted reasonably in all the circumstances in treating [her] conduct as a sufficient reason to dismiss her”.

“She made a one-off comment to her line manager about him and a director of the business,” Boyes said. “The comment was made during a heated meeting.

“Whilst her comment was not acceptable, there is no suggestion that she had made such comments previously. Further … this one-off comment did not amount to gross misconduct or misconduct so serious to justify summary dismissal.”

The hearing heard Ms Herbert started her £40,000-a-year role at Northampton firm Main Group Services in October 2018. In May 2022 she found documents in her boss’s desk about the costs of employing her, and became upset as she believed she was going to be let go.

When her boss, Thomas Swannell, raised issues about her performance, she began crying, the tribunal heard.

Ms Herbert then told the tribunal she said: ‘If it was anyone else in this position they would have walked years ago due to the goings on in the office, but it is only because of you two dickheads that I stayed’.

She said Mr Swannell retorted: ‘Don’t call me a f****** dickhead or my wife. That’s it, you’re sacked. Pack your kit and f*** off.’

Ms Herbert said she asked if he was really firing her, and her boss answered: “Yes I have, now f*** off.’

Now, under the terms of Herbert’s contract, she could be fired for ‘the provocative use of insulting or abusive language’ – but this required she be given a prior warning first. This technicality meant that despite calling her boss a d1ckhead, he did not have the right to fire her for this specific reason.

Swannell claimed she had been dismissed for poor performance at work, but the judge believed it was due to her use of the word ‘d1ckheads’ and ruled that the company had failed to follow proper disciplinary procedures.

 

The company was ordered to pay Ms Herbert £15,042.81 in compensation as well as pay just over £14,000 towards her legal fees. What a result for her.

So in the end, the context here is very important. Calling your boss a d1ckhead is almost certainly a sackable offence in some situations. However, in this case, the workplace didn’t take the correct approach to firing her as per the terms of her contract. Legally, she was permitted the use of at least one ‘d1ckhead’ directed at her boss, which should have prompted a warning rather than a sacking.

As such, I wouldn’t recommend storming into the boss’s office with a copy of this story and yelling “Ha! D1ckhead!” at him/her. Probably won’t turn out as well for you as it did for Kerrie Herbert. Then again, maybe it might? Check the terms of your contract to be sure.

For the man who won a legal right not to be ‘fun’ at work after being sacked for skipping team drinks, click HERE.