EXCLUDING workmates from WhatsApp groups is discrimination, an employment judge has ruled.
And they are entitled to be part of the chats even if they are off sick, she decided.
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The ruling came as Judge Sarah George awarded a plumber more than £130,000 in compensation.
She found Mark Brosnan should have been included in the messages which were used to share important health and safety information, although he was absent with a back injury.
The judge said his bosses should not have presumed he did not want to be bothered with work-related matters while he was recuperating.
She added Coalo, a company owned by Hounslow council in West London, “failed to demonstrate that excluding him was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”.
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Mr Brosnan, 60, hurt his back in 2019 but claimed Coalo did not help him to stop the injury recurring, which it did in 2020.
He resigned in 2021 and has now won a claim for discrimination, victimisation and unfair dismissal.
The tribunal in Watford awarded him £134,411, including £15,000 for injury to feelings.
