Journalist Wins Unfair Dismissal Claim After Refusing To Download App On Personal Phone

A journalist who refused to download a work app on her personal phone has been awarded £20,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal.

Razan Alsnih v Al Quds Al-Arabi Publishing & Advertising 

Case background

The Claimant, Razan Alsnih, worked as an Online News Editor for the Respondent, Al Quds Al-Arabi Publishing & Advertising, an Arabic newspaper. The Claimant started working for the Respondent in February 2014 as a Social Media Assistant and she was then promoted to Online News Editor in 2016.

The Respondent was publishing nearly 100 articles a day and it was therefore impossible for them to directly review each individual article before publication. The Respondent introduced an app called Viber which allowed them to see what articles were being published so that they could avoid duplication. However, it was not made compulsory for employees to download the app until November 2019.

On 01 November 2019, the Claimant received a message saying that she was included in a group within Viber and it was suggested that she “communicate with the group” about news and headlines as a way to “avoid mistakes”.

The Claimant refused to install the app on her personal phone as she claimed that the notifications were intrusive and disruptive to her personal life. The Claimant asked for a work phone for the purposes of downloading this app. However, the Respondent rejected this and told the Claimant that she could mute the notifications. The Claimant felt that this would not help her to separate her work and home life. This led to the Respondent blocking the Claimant from the system.

The Claimant raised a grievance alleging harassment, bullying, and race discrimination and was subsequently dismissed in February 2020. The Claimant then went on to bring claims for:

Employment Tribunal decision

The Employment Tribunal came to the decision that the sole reason that the Claimant was dismissed was because she refused to install the Viber app on her personal phone. They found that there were no reasonable grounds for dismissal and that in any event, the dismissal was procedurally unfair as no disciplinary investigation was carried out.

The Tribunal held that the Claimant had been unfairly dismissed by the Respondent. The Tribunal awarded the claimant £20,000 for unfair dismissal and a further £12,000 in respect of claims for unpaid holiday pay, breach of contract, and unlawful deductions from salary. The claimant also received a 25% uplift due to the Respondent’s failure to comply with the ACAS Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance.

Comment

This case gives numerous reminders regarding an employer’s relationship with their employees.

It is important for an employer to be flexible and understanding towards their employees. For example with the above case, the employer could have made adjustments such as providing the Claimant with a work phone or allowing the Claimant to install the app on her work laptop.

Employees should also be reminded about the importance of conducting thorough investigations and following proper procedures.