Free speech goes underground: the London Tube-worker apparently sacked for criticising George Floyd
by Steven Tucker, Mercator:
Did you know it is now a sackable offence, as a part of British employment law, to criticise George Floyd in the United Kingdom? That would be the only conclusion a legal layman like myself would be able to draw from an Employment Tribunal held in St Albans last November, the final judgement for which has now been released.
Tracey Webb, a duty trains manager on the London Underground subway system of 32 years unblemished service, was removed from her job after being alleged to have posted “offensive and inflammatory comments” about Mr Floyd on Facebook in June 2020, following his death the previous month.
At first glance, media reports would appear to suggest Ms Webb won her case, being awarded £7,284 by the presiding judge, Richard Wood. However, Judge Wood did not rule her employers were incorrect to sack Webb for her “crime”, merely that the specific internal procedures the law said they should have followed when dismissing her were not quite adhered to.
Thus, the Tribunal’s ruling Webb was unfairly dismissed came purely as a technicality. Webb’s wider claim that her sacking itself was unfair and the result of racial discrimination against her on account of her white skin was dismissed as being wholly without merit.
Disrespecting the dead
Examination of the Tribunal’s judgement itself reveals some extremely disturbing judicial reasoning about what an employee apparently is and is not now allowed to say not only inside a British workplace, but also outside it. Webb’s Facebook page was her personal private one, but various co-workers at the Seven Sisters Underground depot in North London where she worked also had access to it, causing problems.
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