Mr Gosden was a care worker working with drug users inside Moorland Prison. He sent an email containing offensive comments, accompanied by images of naked women, from his home computer to a work colleague's home computer, outside working hours. The email concluded: "It is your duty to pass this on!" The colleague forwarded the email to another colleague who worked at the prison. The email chain came to the attention of the prison, which instituted an internal investigation.
Mr Gosden's co-worker then forwarded the email on to another colleague at the prison and so the email entered the prison service's system. Mr Gosden was dismissed following a disciplinary hearing but argued that the dismissal was unfair because he had sent the email from his personal email address outside of working hours. The tribunal disagreed. Although he sent the email from home, it clearly stated that it should be passed on and so he should reasonably have expected it to have been forwarded. The tribunal concluded that a reasonable employer would be entitled to conclude that Mr Gosden had committed an act of gross misconduct that could damage the company's reputation or integrity and so the decision to dismiss was therefore within the band of reasonable responses.
In view of the increasing use of social media and to avoid debate over privacy issues, employers should ensure that internet usage policies make it clear that employees should not send offensive emails, or similar communications, inside or outside the workplace and that disciplinary action could result if they do.
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