Worker unfairly dismissed wins compensation battle

A worker has received more than £10,000 in compensation after he was sacked for swearing at his boss.

Keith Bodman lost his job as a machine operator at the Yuasa battery factory in South Wales after he swore at the foreman. He claimed unfair dismissal saying that bad language was common at the factory and people had been given warnings after using worse language.

He took the factory to an employment tribunal before Yuasa agreed to pay him an out-of-court settlement. Mr Bodman claimed that he had a clean work record and had not missed a single days’ work in 16 years, a fact disputed by the company.

Bryan Godsell of the Unite union, which supported Mr Bodman, said: “The employer used what was unfortunately common in the workplace as an excuse to dismiss Mr Bodman. There was clear evidence that other employees had been treated less harshly in the past and, given his clean work record, Mr Bodman should have been treated in the same way.”

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