University worker is accused of racism and sacked after claiming his email autocorrect changed a colleague’s name to ‘Hash brown’
- Newcastle University administrator is fired over ‘racist’ email to fellow colleague
- Ollie de Planta Wildenberg says computer autocorrected name to ‘Hash brown’
- He claims he had never met or even spoken to the woman in question
- He said he was shocked by the ‘unfair dismissal’ just four days into his new job
Ollie de Planta Wildenberg, 28, said that he had never met or even spoken to the woman in question
A university worker fired over a ‘racist’ email claims his computer auto-corrected a colleague’s name to ‘Hash brown’.
Ollie de Planta Wildenberg, 28, said that he had never met or even spoken to the woman in question.
He claims he was unaware of the error until his line manager at Newcastle University spoke to him the next morning.
Mr de Planta Wildenberg blamed the auto-correct function, which automatically amends common spelling mistakes.
After a disciplinary investigation, he was fired after his bosses were unable to replicate the error to prove his defence.
Mr de Planta Wildenberg said: ‘Hash brown is not a racist term. It is a breakfast item. It is a bit weird to call someone that intentionally. Why would I do it? To class it as gross misconduct is just unbelievable. It was a typing error. There is nothing to suggest this is racist.’
The administrator had been with the university for five months as a temp before being taken on full-time in September.
Mr de Planta Wildenberg blamed the auto-correct function, which automatically amends common spelling mistakes. After a disciplinary investigation, he was fired after his bosses were unable to replicate the error to prove his defence
He said he was shocked by the ‘unfair dismissal’, which happened just four days into his new job.
The recipient of the message has not been named.
Recalling being told about the email by his boss, Mr de Planta Wildenberg said: ‘It was an informal meeting and he was laughing about it. He just told me to be more careful in the future and I thought that was the end of it.’ Instead it was dealt with as a gross misconduct issue.
Mr de Planta Wildenberg, from Gosforth in Newcastle upon Tyne, claimed the university did not follow its own disciplinary procedure.
The administrator had been with the university for five months as a temp before being taken on full-time in September. He said he was shocked by the ‘unfair dismissal’, which happened just four days into his new job at Newcastle University. A university building is pictured above
He said it gave him just ten minutes to prepare for a formal meeting instead of the minimum five working days.
His appeal hearing in October was shown an email from the recipient which he said ‘made light’ of the incident – but the decision was upheld.
The university said it believed ‘that in the balance of probability you did type the words in question and the words were perceived as offensive and involving racial language’.
Mr de Planta Wildenberg has resorted to taking on odd jobs as a kitchen porter, waiter and barman.
He said: ‘It’s terrible to think I’m now peeling potatoes on the back of this instead of progressing my career. No one wants to see racism or prejudice in the workplace. But accidentally calling someone a hash brown is not racist’.
A university spokesman said: ‘We can confirm that Oliver de Planta Wildenberg is no longer employed by Newcastle.’