Employee Unfairly Dismissed for Refusing to Install Work App on Personal Phone

In the case of Alsnih v Al Quds Al-Arabi Publishing and Advertising, the claimant was a journalist working for the respondent newspaper. To help manage workload, the respondent introduced an app to track what stories were being submitted and to help avoid the duplication of content.

The claimant did not initially use the app but when concerns were raised about her duplicating content, the respondent asked her to start using it. The claimant objected to having the app on her personal phone and asked for a separate work phone. This led to a dispute and the claimant's employment was terminated.

The claimant brought several claims, including a claim for unfair dismissal.

Tribunal Decision

The Tribunal upheld the claim. The dismissal was both procedurally and substantively unfair. In respect of the procedure, the respondent had failed to carry out an investigation or disciplinary hearing before deciding to terminate employment. There was a separate issue raised in respect of the claimant's employment status: the respondent had believed her to be a freelancer whereas the Tribunal found she was employed. Had her employment status been clear from the outset the respondent might have followed a proper process prior to the dismissal.

In respect of substantive fairness, the decision to dismiss fell outside the "band of reasonable responses". The claimant's refusal to put the work app on her personal phone was a the reason for her dismissal. No reasonable employer would have dismissed an employee for this, given the app was intrusive and impacted on the claimant's ability to separate her work and private life. The respondent could instead have provided her with a work phone or the means to download the app onto her laptop.

Learning Points

This is a first instance decision, which is not binding on other Tribunals. It nevertheless offers some practical learning points for employers. It may be reasonable for an employee to refuse to use an intrusive work-related app on a personal phone. Employers may wish to consider providing work devices where means allow. Employers should also note that in this case, the employer's suggested solution of "muting" notifications from the app was deemed insufficient given that the claimant would still be able to see the notifications on the homepage of her phone.

For more information or advice on unfair dismissal, please contact Gareth Edwards in our Employment team on  0117 314 5220 or complete the form below.