A Sainsbury’s manager who was off sick for 16 weeks felt “humiliated” when he was excluded from a social media post celebrating International Men’s Day.
Darren Cooper, who was off for a prolonged period due to anxiety, has now won a disability harassment claim at an employment tribunal.
During his leave, the supermarket’s regional director posted online to thank and “celebrate” male managers who “show up for work each day, put on a name badge on, and provide leadership for thousands of colleagues”.
Cooper, who has worked at the supermarket since he was in school, said that his exclusion from the post made him feel “violated”.
A judge at an employment tribunal in Cardiff ruled that Cooper was “humiliated” by the post, and he is now in line for compensation.
The long-serving manager first began working at the store in 1993 on a part time basis, before taking up a full-time position in 2010 after graduating from university.
However, in June 2022, whilst Cooper was on sick leave for anxiety, he saw a post that caused “untold further damage” to his health.
Regional Director Matt Hourihan commemorated International Men’s Day on November 19, with a post thanking the male managers who “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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Cooper was not tagged in the LinkedIn post thanking male managers at the supermarket
PA
In the thanks, which was posted on LinkedIn and the Sainsbury’s internal message board, Hourihan tagged each store manager in the region apart from Cooper.
Cooper said the snub created “angst” for him, as it prompted questions from friends and colleagues who asked if he had left the supermarket.
Employment Judge Rhian Brace said: “He gave statement evidence that he felt excluded, humiliated and violated by the post and that he had felt he had been excluded because he was absent.”
Hourihan claimed that Cooper had been asked not to be contacted whilst he was off work, so did not want to tag him in order to follow his wishes.
Cooper then made a complaint which was made up of 48 “discrete concerns” against his boss, only one of which was partially upheld. He appealed the result but this was dismissed.
He was later fired on June 2023, and he then sued for disability discrimination relating to his anxiety, harassment and unfair dismissal.
Brace said: “[Cooper] was a valued and long-serving store manager at Sainsbury’s.
“He had Orange Blood as it was monikered, where he had worked from Sainsbury’s since a pupil and still at school.”
The Cardiff tribunal decided that excluding Cooper from the post was “unwanted conduct” and said it was “related to his disability”.
“Whilst the Tribunal again has sympathy with [Mr Hourihan’s] position, we nonetheless accepted [Cooper’s] evidence that having people contact him caused him to feel excluded,” Brace said.
“It was reasonable for [Cooper], as a senior store manager, in those circumstances for him to feel humiliated as a result particularly when there had been nothing to have prevented Matt Hourihan from telling [Mr Cooper] of the post when speaking to him the day prior.”
The amount of compensation he will receive will be decided at a later date.
GB News has approached Sainsbury’s for comment.