We round off this month’s update with some tabloid takes on employment law. This month we have a doubleheader for you. First up we have Ayub Patel, a Job Centre employee who was dismissed for criticising Donal Trump and Tommy Robinson on Twitter.

Mr. Patel had 25 years’ service and a clean disciplinary record at the time of tweeting and was dismissed for gross misconduct because the DWP deemed the tweets to be too political. The ET held that there was nothing to connect his Twitter account to his work and allowed his claim. However, the award was reduced by 50% due to the offensive nature of the tweets.

Whilst PJH Law can understand why someone may wish to vent about and lament the political platforms afforded to Trump and Robinson, Twitter is seldom the best platform to do this. Likewise, dismissing a Muslim employee for venting about individuals who have arguably caused an increase in Islamophobic rhetoric is probably not the logical next step.