Sainsbury's worker gets £12,000 after being left out of boss's social media post

A Sainsbury's store manager from south Wales who was left out of his boss's International Men's Day social media post has been awarded £12,000.

Darren Cooper was absent on sick leave for anxiety when his regional director published a post celebrating the male leaders who "all show up for work each day, put on a name badge and provide support, guidance and leadership".

Upon discovering his exclusion from the public display of appreciation Mr Cooper felt "excluded, humiliated and violated", an employment tribunal in Cardiff was told.

The tribunal determined that he had been "humiliated" by the post and he succeeded in his claim for harassment related to disability and unfavourable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability.

He will receive £11,852 in compensation including £7,500 for injury to feelings. 

Mr Cooper started working at Sainsbury's in 1993 and said he had "orange blood" – a reference to the colour of the chain's branding – the tribunal was told.

In 2010 he became manager of the Pontypridd store. He went on sick leave due to anxiety in July 2022. In November his line manager Matt Hourihan posted on Yammer and LinkedIn to mark International Men's Day, it was heard.

Mr Hourihan wrote: "I'd like to take a moment to celebrate the male leaders in my team and say thank you for all that you do to help make our stores across south Wales, Gloucestershire and Worcester places where colleagues love to work and customers love to shop.

"All of you do this whilst leading busy lives outside of work too, dealing with health, family and personal issues in the same way that everyone else does, yet you all show up for work each day, put on a name badge and provide support, guidance and leadership to the thousands of colleagues that work on our region. Thank you and happy International Men's Day everyone. Matt."

Alongside the post was a photograph tagging every regional store manager with the exception of Mr Cooper, the tribunal was told. The tribunal heard that he endured "untold further damage" to his health, coupled with the "angst" of responding to queries from friends and colleagues about whether he had left Sainsbury's.

Mr Hourihan said that since Mr Cooper had removed WhatsApp and expressed a desire not to be contacted, he deemed it best to exclude him from the post. He also said he didn't possess a photo of Mr Cooper and felt it would be inappropriate to request one.

Following numerous discussions regarding Mr Cooper's return to work, he was dismissed in June 2023. He filed a lawsuit alleging disability discrimination, harassment, unfavourable treatment, and unfair dismissal.

The panel concluded: "The cause of the treatment was the conscious thought process of Matt Hourihan to not include (Mr Cooper) from the post as he was absent and therefore this amounted to unfavourable treatment because of something arising from disability."

The tribunal dismissed Mr Cooper's allegations of disability discrimination and unfair dismissal.