• See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source

A senior NHS communications manager who was fired for accidentally showing his female colleague porn has won almost £13,000 for unfair dismissal.

Jon Fisher was showing a junior colleague a video of his daughter on his phone when she saw thumbnail images of pornographic content on the bottom of his screen, an employment tribunal heard.

Mr Fisher shared a small office with his colleague in the communications team for University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust.

After unwittingly showing her the pornographic images, he told her it was a 'very regrettable accident'.

The junior colleague, who has not been named, and three other female colleagues subsequently complained about Mr Fisher, alleging he made them feel uncomfortable and would say things like 'Hello Tiger' and called one of them a 'good girl'.

Mr Fisher was sacked from the trust in June 2024, but sued for unfair dismissal.

An employment tribunal found there were failures in the investigation against him and he was awarded £12,951.

Communications manager Jon Fisher was fired after he accidentally showed a female colleague porn on his phone. Pictured: Dorset County Hospital

The tribunal, held virtually, heard that Mr Fisher had worked for the trust as a Senior Communications Manager since 2011.

The colleague made her complaint to the Associate Director of Communications, Jamie Donald, in 2023, the tribunal was told.

It heard: 'On 17 July 2023, [Mr Fisher's junior colleague] approached Mr Donald and reported to him that she had been shown a video by Mr Fisher of his daughter and at the bottom she could see thumbnail images of pornographic material.

'She was, according to a statement later given by Mr Donald, very upset and said she had been avoiding him since the incident.

After speaking with Mr Donald, Mr Fisher wrote to his colleague about the incident.

He said: 'I wanted to give you my sincere apologies that you saw something on my phone/screen that I had no intention of you seeing.

'This was a very regrettable accident and I'm not sure how it happened.

'I had no idea anything other than [my daughter]'s video was on screen, I do not believe I was looking at the screen when showing you the film of [my daughter], and if I was, I did not notice any unintended inappropriate content. I'm really sorry.

'I would like to assure you that if I had noticed anything untoward I would immediately have stopped showing it to you.

'I apologise for any distress this caused you and I hope you accept that this was a genuine and innocent accident.'

Mr Fisher said he was not happy with the way that the ongoing consequences of the allegation had been dealt with.

He complained about it, saying that he had 'bent over backwards to manage her sensitively and delicately'.

In October 2023, Mr Fisher's junior colleague went off sick 'allegedly due to the poor behaviour and incivility' of Mr Fisher.

Two months later, she raised a complaint along with three colleagues about him.

The women alleged that they and others 'do not feel comfortable sharing an office space alone with Jon', and said a communications office was moved to make sure people were 'not left alone in an isolated work environment with him'.

An investigation carried out by the trust found that the 'phone incident' amounted to sexual harassment.

It also found that he had previously called one of the women a 'good girl', addressed another in an email by saying 'Hello Tiger' and called a different colleague a 'minion'.

The junior colleague was relocated to work with a different manager.

Mr Fisher was sacked in June 2024, in part because the phone incident was considered gross misconduct.

He was told: 'The act of showing [the junior colleague] images of pornography on your phone, whether deliberate or negligent had a grossly significant and far-reaching impact on her, resulting in her ill health, which is still present today.

'This constitutes sexual harassment, as the behaviour was unwanted, intimidating and violated [her] dignity, whether this was intended or not.'

His appeal against the decision was dismissed.

Employment Judge James Dawson said: 'Whilst it might be said that it is not morally culpable to look at pornography on one's own phone (I need express no particular view), if [Mr Fisher] was going to look at pornography and then show his phone to a junior member of staff who he knew had a sensitive nature, it was incumbent on him to make sure that the pornography would not be displayed.

'It is not good enough to say 'it was an accident'; [Mr Fisher] should have made sure that that accident did not happen and in that sense he was culpable.'

The judge found that there were failings in the investigation into Mr Fisher's conduct, including a failure to investigate why there was a delay in Mr Fisher's colleagues making complaints against him.

These failings meant that the trust 'behaved unreasonably in treating [Mr Fisher]'s misconduct as a sufficient reason for dismissing him', even though without these procedural failures it was 'highly likely that [Mr Fisher] would still have been dismissed'.

The judge found that he contributed to his dismissal, so he has only been awarded a small percentage of the compensation he would have received if this was not the case.