A UK employment tribunal has ruled that brief personal internet use during work hours is not sufficient grounds for dismissal, awarding an accountancy administrator more than £14,000 in compensation after she was unfairly sacked.
The case centred on Ms. A. Lanuszka, who was dismissed in July 2023 by her employer, Accountancy MK, after spyware secretly installed on her work computer recorded her browsing websites such as Rightmove and Amazon. Over the course of two days, she was found to have spent around one hour and 24 minutes on personal browsing.
Employment Judge Michael Magee, sitting in Bury St Edmunds, concluded that the activity was not “excessive” and did not justify termination. “She was free to use the computer personally when work commitments permitted and during breaks,” he said, noting there was no clear policy prohibiting limited personal use.
The tribunal also heard that Lanuszka’s employer, Ms. Krauze, herself used work computers for personal matters. A significant portion of the recorded time was spent on Excel training and professional development rather than purely recreational browsing. Lanuszka had no previous disciplinary issues and had received no warnings prior to her dismissal.
Judge Magee also questioned the credibility of evidence submitted by Krauze. Diary entries presented to suggest a history of performance concerns were written in 2024 — after Lanuszka’s dismissal — and backdated to 2022 and 2023.
The tribunal determined that the dismissal coincided with the permanent move to the UK of Krauze’s sister and was an attempt to remove Lanuszka from her role before she reached two years of service, the threshold for full protection under UK unfair dismissal law.
Lanuszka originally joined the firm in 2017 but signed a new contract in 2021 following the company’s rebranding under Krauze.
The decision underscores the importance for employers of having clear and consistently applied workplace IT and personal-use policies. Employment experts say that while misuse of work computers can justify disciplinary action, dismissal is unlikely to be upheld without explicit rules and prior warnings.
The tribunal’s ruling awarded Lanuszka £14,365.75 in compensation for unfair dismissal.
The case serves as a reminder that occasional personal internet use at work — provided it does not interfere with professional duties — is not, in itself, misconduct warranting dismissal.
