A senior NHS communications manager has received a payout of nearly £13,000 after an employment tribunal found his dismissal to be unfair. Jon Fisher, a Senior Communications Manager for University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust since 2011, was fired in June 2024 for accidentally exposing a junior colleague to pornographic material on his phone.
The incident occurred when Fisher was showing a video of his daughter to a junior colleague in their shared small office. Thumbnail images of pornography appeared on the bottom of his phone screen, which the colleague saw. Fisher immediately apologized, calling it a "very regrettable accident" and expressing confusion as to how the content appeared.
Following the incident, the junior colleague and three other female colleagues filed complaints. They alleged that Fisher made them feel uncomfortable, citing instances where he used phrases like "Hello Tiger," called one colleague "good girl," and another a "minion." The junior colleague also reportedly went on sick leave in October 2023, allegedly due to Fisher's behavior.
An investigation by the trust concluded that the "phone incident" constituted sexual harassment and that Fisher's conduct amounted to gross misconduct. He was informed that his actions had a "grossly significant and far-reaching impact" on the junior colleague, resulting in her ongoing ill health.
However, the employment tribunal found significant failings in the trust's investigation process. These included a failure to investigate delays in the colleagues lodging their complaints. Employment Judge James Dawson stated that while Fisher was culpable for not ensuring such an accident did not happen, the procedural failures meant the trust "behaved unreasonably in treating [Mr Fisher]'s misconduct as a sufficient reason for dismissing him." The tribunal determined that Fisher contributed to his dismissal, thus limiting his award to a fraction of what he might otherwise have received.
Despite the tribunal's findings on the procedural shortcomings, the judge noted that without these failures, it was "highly likely that [Mr Fisher] would still have been dismissed." Fisher was awarded £12,951 for unfair dismissal.