A British judge ruled that spending short shopping or browsing online during working hours was not a fireable offence, and the case ruled that an employee had compensation of more than £14,000.
The ruling comes after the dismissal of accounting administrator Ms. Lanuszka, whose employer secretly installed spyware on the computer and recorded her visits to websites such as RightMove and Amazon.
The court heard that she spent about an hour and 24 minutes on her personal browsing. But, employment judge Michael Magee, who sat in Bury St Edmunds, concluded that the activity was not “over-excessive” and did not justify the dismissal.
Judge Magee noted that Lanuszka’s boss Ms. Krauze also used her working computer for personal purposes and did not provide any policy prohibiting such use. “She is free to use the computer in person while allowing work commitments and rest,” the judge said.
A large portion of the time recorded is spent on professional development, including Excel training. Lanuszka has no discipline issues and has received no warnings.
The judge also criticized Krauze’s diary entries for raising long-standing performance issues, noting that they wrote them in 2024 after the dismissal and returned to 2022 and 2023.
The court concluded that Lanuszka’s sack coincided with the permanent relocation of Krauze’s sister in the UK and was designed to evacuate her from the company before being included in the two-year service – under the unfair dismissal law, workers were given a threshold for full protection.
Lanuszka initially joined Accounting MK in 2017, but signed a new contract when Krauze renamed the business in 2021.
The court’s decision highlights the importance of employer clearance policies and personal use policies – and consistently applies them.
