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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A grocery store manager has received the equivalent of around $15,000 in compensation after a boss excluded him from a social-media post marking International Men’s Day.
Darren Cooper said he was left feeling "excluded, humiliated and violated" after his regional director at the U.K.-based supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, Matt Hourihan, uploaded a post to LinkedIn and Yammer in November 2022 to "celebrate the male leaders."
The post said: "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."
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In July of that year, Cooper, who ran the Pontypridd-based branch of Sainsbury’s, had gone on sick leave, citing anxiety. The social-media post featured the photos of every regional store manager, with each one named and tagged, except Cooper.
Cooper said the post caused "untold further damage" to his health at the time. He added that he was left having to deal with the "angst" of responding to questions from concerned colleagues and friends who thought he may have left Sainsbury’s after seeing the post.
In his defense, Hourihan said he left Cooper out because he believed he did not wish to be contacted. Cooper, who had been working at Sainsbury's since 1993, was dismissed from his role with the grocery chain in June 2023. He then launched legal action against Sainsbury’s suing for disability discrimination, harassment, unfavorable treatment and unfair dismissal.
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Though claims of disability discrimination and unfair dismissal were dismissed by the tribunal, it ruled in favor on his claim of harassment related to disability and unfavorable treatment because of something arising in consequence of disability,
The tribunal held in Cardiff cited the "conscious thought process" of Hourihan not to include Cooper in the post in its ruling. It determined that "this amounted to unfavorable treatment because of something arising from disability."
Hourihan had argued that Cooper deleted WhatsApp and had previously said he did not wish to be contacted. He also said he did not have a photo of Cooper so thought it was inappropriate to ask. On the basis of this, Hourihan decided it was better to leave him out of the post.
The panel did not agree. Cooper is now set to receive £11,852 ($15,872) in compensation, including a payment of £7,500 ($10,044) for injury to feelings.
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