Dismissal | Employee sacked for 'breaking wind' at work

Employee sacked for 'breaking wind' at work

A Police Officer has been dismissed from her post, following a string of inappropriate behaviour including breaking wind in her police station and using the C-word repeatedly.

Detective Constable Claire Fitzpatrick admitted to passing wind outside the Sergeant’s office after she was summoned to a disciplinary hearing where she revealed: “It wasn’t deliberate,” The Sun reported.

She confessed to also using foul language while on duty, but claimed it was part of the ‘culture of banter’ at the station. She said:

“I would joke about it. Sometimes I would speak like the character Borat or use a silly voice to say: ‘Rather out than in’."

On another occasion, Fitzpatrick who was working on a temp basis, also asked a Junior Officer if he wanted an affair with a ‘fatter, ugly, older woman’.

Fellow Officers also witnessed Fitzpatrick yell a motorist: “You’re driving like a c***,” before arresting the man.

Overall, Fitzpatrick was accused of 25 counts of unprofessional behaviour between Summer and December 2017 at Bedwas police station in Caerphilly.

Following the hearing, she has since been dismissed from her duties and the force, where she has worked for 22 years.

However, this isn’t the first-time breaking wind has caused issues within the workplace. In October last year HR Grapevine reported that a Tesco employee was suing the supermarket for harassment and race discrimination after a colleague deliberately farted at him.

Atif Masood, a Customer Assistant from Thornton Heath claimed that the colleague “broke wind in his face” as one of several acts of less favourable treatment he suffered because of his Muslim background. As a result, demanded £20,000 to compensate for the unsavoury situation.

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Masood said he didn’t receive an apology, and that Tesco did not investigate his complaint properly, even though an internal investigation found “sufficient evidence” from CCTV footage that the fart did happen in the way that Masood described it.

Masood, through his lawyers, Rahman Lowe Solicitors, alleges it amounted to “unwanted conduct which had the purpose or effect of violating his dignity.

While it seems like an unusual reason for an employee to be dismissed, HR should always be prepared for whatever may come their way.



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Comments (4)

  • Steviebabie
    Steviebabie
    Mon, 25 Mar 2019 4:41pm GMT
    Another trumped up charge!!
  • Mo Rawat
    Mo Rawat
    Mon, 25 Mar 2019 2:11pm GMT
    interested in diversity
  • HR Megagod
    HR Megagod
    Fri, 22 Mar 2019 4:08pm GMT
    Something stinks about this
  • Hero of the wastes
    Hero of the wastes
    Fri, 22 Mar 2019 1:46pm GMT
    Parrrrrrrp

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