Reference no: EM133005772

Leo is a permanent part-time employee at Hairy Jakes' Pancake Hut Kew branch, where he works as a server on weekday afternoons. Hairy Jakes' Pancake Hut Pty Ltd has a company policy on the use by staff of social media that provides that employees may not bring the company in disrepute through their use of social media.

Leo rates himself as a bit of an Insta-Influencer and a comedian. He regularly takes secret photos of customers of the restaurant while they are enjoying their meals and then posts it on social media without their consent. He often includes disparaging remarks in his comments, but that pales in comparison to some of the awful comments returned by his followers.

One of the customers featured in these posts become aware of them when his son is teased at school because of the content. The customer complains to Hairy Jakes' Pancake Hut's head office about the posts. The customer further takes the story to media outlets, which means that Hairy Jakes' Pancake Hut is soon the poster child of disrespect to the customer. The Kew branch is particularly hard hit. It loses about half its customers in the week that the story breaks.

You are an advisor to the Allied Restaurant Workers Union. Leo is a member of the union and approaches it for advice when he is summarily dismissed by Hairy Jakes' Pancake Hut (that means he was dismissed without any notice of termination). Leo is of the opinion that what he does in his private time has nothing to do with his employer. He says that there is nothing in his contract of employment that could be grounds for dismissal in this case. Advise Leo on whether his view is correct.