Spending short periods of time shopping or browsing online during work hours is not a sackable offence, a UK judge has ruled in a case that awarded an employee more than £14,000 in compensation.
The ruling followed the dismissal of Ms A Lanuszka, an accountancy administrator, who was fired in July 2023 after her employer secretly installed spyware on her computer and recorded her visiting websites such as Rightmove and Amazon.
The tribunal heard she spent around one hour and 24 minutes over two days on personal browsing. But Employment Judge Michael Magee, sitting in Bury St Edmunds, concluded the activity was not “excessive” and did not justify dismissal.
Judge Magee noted that Lanuszka’s boss, Ms Krauze, also used her work computer for personal purposes and had provided no clear policy banning such use. “She was free to use the computer personally when work commitments permitted and during breaks,” the judge said.
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