A WAITROSE sushi chef sued his boss for harassment because he sent through a work ROTA after midnight on WhatsApp.
Hemanta Mainali was so angry when he was woken by the early morning work message that he furiously typed back: "Go f*** yourself."
Mainali was working as a sushi chef at Waitrose at the time with his childhood friend and business partner Sumin Lohani.
He owned 30 per cent of the sushi business but Lohani was the majority shareholder, and his boss, and the pair had started to fall out.
Mainali claimed Lohani's WhatsApp message was sent directly to him and was a "deliberate attempt to disturb him" and "encourage him to leave".
The pair then clashed heads again just weeks later – having a violent confrontation in front of customers at the sushi counter of the upmarket supermarket.
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Mainali ended up walking away from his job and sued Lohani for harassment, claiming he had been forced out.
But his case has since been heard by the employment tribunal and it was found Lohani had no intentions of disturbing his former friend and colleague with the message that night.
The hearing was told how the pair owned the sushi kiosk at Waitrose in Godalming, Surrey, but had known each other since childhood in Nepal.
But, that friendship became "strained" in 2020 when Lohani sent the ROTA for the upcoming week to all his employees.
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The tribunal heard: "He sent it via WhatsApp. He did not send it to (Mr Mainali) only. He did not choose the time of sending to annoy (Mr Mainali) or anyone else.
"He had thought that people would read the message when convenient to them, and had not expected them to read/respond straight away.
"(Mr Mainali's) phone made a sound when this message was received. That had not been Mr Lohani’s intention; he had simply given no thought to that possibility. (Mr Mainali) and his family were asleep, and were disturbed by the phone alert."
The tribunal heard how Mainali furiously responded: "This is very wrong to post at midnight. Go f*ck yourselves."
Lohani then replied: "Watch your mouth, I didn’t ask you to check now."
Mainali left in the weeks that followed, but took the company to the tribunal claiming to have been the victim of a "campaign" to force him out.
He claimed he had been discriminated against due to "mental health issues which include anxiety, insomnia and panic attacks".
He also claimed he had been "bullied and verbally abused in front of staff."
However, his complaints of harassment and disability discrimination were dismissed.
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Of the early hours Whatsapp message, Employment Judge Patrick Quill said: "(Mr Mainali) suggested that the WhatsApp message of 4 January was a deliberate attempt to disturb him, and perhaps encourage him to leave. We find that that is not the case.
"Even if (he) is right in his belief that it was sent to his own contact address, not just to the group contact address, that does not indicate that he was being targeted or deliberately disturbed at night."
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