TWO bosses sacked over a “laddy” WhatsApp group used to share porn and joke about female co-workers have sued their ex-firm for £300,000.
Paul Wells and Roberto Solari claimed they were wrongfully dismissed from their senior positions at the logistics company after the messaging group was discovered.
The chat included sexist banter, comments about the private parts of female colleagues and porn images – with bosses at Cathay Investments 2 Ltd saying they were justified in sacking them for “gross misconduct”.
But both men are now suing their former employers, denying any misconduct and claiming the reasons for their dismissal were trumped up in order to deprive them of the true value of company shares they say should be worth at least £150,000 to each of them.
The WhatsApp group saw the men give each other nicknames based on coffee and joke about colleagues including one woman known in court only as D.
Mr Solari – nicknamed Skinny Latte – had set up the group and posted a porn image of “a woman exposing her vagina” which was later tagged by another user with the message “face like Katie Price and a muff like D”, lawyers for their former employers Cathay Investments 2 Ltd said.
Mr Solari, 36, is also accused of having used gambling and porn websites at work.
It was also claimed Mr Wells, 39, had posted a “very graphic” video “of a woman masturbating” on which Mr Solari had commented: “D in a wig isn’t it?”
‘BUSINESS HOURS BANTER’
The company’s barrister Edward Levey said: “Many of the messages were sent during the course of ordinary business hours.
“The members of the group were accustomed to sending each other crude, offensive sexist and pornographic messages.
“Not only did the members of the group make offensive and sexist comments about women in general, but some of their offensive remarks were directed at certain specific female employees of PNC.
“The female employees who were being discussed on the group were not aware of what was being said about them behind their backs but…if they had known, the women in question would have been horrified.
“The defendants allege that, by being members of the group, Mr Wells and Mr Solari breached their duty not to engage in behaviour which could or tended to undermine a positive and harmonious working environment and created or encouraged a working environment which was hostile, degrading or offensive for other employees.”
But both men have claimed the “laddy” and “degrading” posts and comments stopped when new owners bought out the company – and that the “sole reason for their dismissal” was for Cathay to avoid paying them the full price for their shares.
I’m not saying these videos were right, but they were just sent for amusement. This was just a lads’ group. We wouldn’t talk like that in the office.
Paul Wells
Chris Quinn, for Mr Wells and Mr Solari, argued the messages the company found on the WhatsApp group are irrelevant as they date from before the takeover
In the witness box, Mr Wells told Judge Jonathan Simpkiss that the women would have been “p***ed off”, but not “horrified” by the messaged.
He added: “The office was a very blokey laddish office. There was some bad language in the office and a few people pranked each other.
“I’ve known these guys for a long time. That culture that we had was a great one.
“I’m not saying these videos were right, but they were just sent for amusement. This was just a lads’ group. We wouldn’t talk like that in the office.”
The messages were discovered when another employee handed in their old work phone.
The two men’s former employers also claim that both wrongfully disclosed confidential company information and were involved in providing “reverse engineered” financial information on PNC to the new owners following the buyout.
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They both deny the allegations. Mr Solari junior is also accused of having “accessed gambling and pornographic websites on his work laptop whilst at work”.
Of that, he says that another colleague must have accessed the banned sites on his work computer without his knowledge as a workplace “prank”.
The hearing continues.
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News Photo Two bosses sacked over ‘laddy’ WhatsApp group used to share porn and joke about female colleague’s genitals sue firm for £300k
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