UK 
United States
A boss allegedly sacked a worker just minutes after saying goodbye to them at the end of their last shift.
In a viral Reddit post, which was picked up by Newsweek, the anonymous worker shared a screenshot of an email, notifying them of their dismissal from The Local Draught House, less than half an hour after they had last seen one another at the Florida based bar and restaurant.
"This is how my manager fired me, 20 minutes after I left my shift with him," the employee wrote before sharing the contents of the email.
The manager’s email notified the employee that they had “decided to terminate your employment” because their results “inability to hit deadlines” and failure to complete a food health & safety programme “just [didn’t] align with The Local.”
The email finished: “Please refrain from coming to any Local Draught House in the future."
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In the Reddit post, the now-ex worker said they were never even sent the safety course to complete, but that they had nonetheless submitted a similar certification that they already held.
They added: "My 'results' are completely unknown to me because their metrics are ridiculous. They're a dive bar who serves paninis, and if you don't sell a certain number per day then I guess you're fired?"
And in another cruel blow, the manager had reportedly fist bumped the employee as they clocked out that day, just minutes before sending the termination email.
The post racked up thousands of comments condemning the unnamed boss’ actions, calling them “spineless," "gutless," and "cowardly."
A fair sacking? If not, what next?
Although this incident took place in the US, where labour laws differ, it is a very real possibility that sackings of this nature can, and already have, occurred in the UK.
And if Brit workers were as perplexed by the reasons given for their dismissal as the worker at the centre of this incident, they could have strong grounds to take the workplace to an employment tribunal.
According to Acas, employees can challenge their dismissal if they think it was an unfair decision.
However, it's important to understand what unfair dismissal exactly means. It depends on the individual situation but the employee might have been dismissed fairly if:
there was a fair reason
the reason was enough to justify dismissing them
the employer followed a full and fair procedure
Automatically unfair reasons
Some things are 'automatically unfair' if they're the main reason for dismissing an employee.
These include:
making a flexible working request
being pregnant or on maternity leave
wanting to take family leave, for example parental, paternity or adoption leave
being a trade union member or representative
taking part in legal, official industrial action for 12 weeks or less, for example going on strike
asking for a legal right, for example to be paid the National Minimum Wage
doing jury service
being involved in whistleblowing
being forced to retire (known as 'compulsory retirement')
taking action, or proposing to take action, over a health and safety issue
Making a claim to an employment tribunal
If the employee has tried to appeal and wants to take it further, they may want to make a claim to an employment tribunal.
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An employee usually has the right to make an unfair dismissal claim to an employment tribunal if:
they have 'employee' employment status
they've worked for their employer for 2 years
If they've been dismissed for an 'automatically unfair' reason it does not matter how long they've worked for their employer.
Kirsty