Manchester City Council suspend employee who posted “Kick Islam out of Britain" message on FB

Categories: Latest News
Monday January 26 2015
Manchester Evening News reports on the suspension of a council worker from his post at Manchester City Council after a member of the public alerted the newspaper to an anti-Muslim message posted by the worker on his Facebook page.
Dave Balderstone, 46, responded to a message on the BNP’s page which, set against a Union Jack backdrop, said “Isn’t it weird that in Britain our flag offends so many people, yet our benefits don’t…”
Balderstone replied with the message “Kick Islam out of Britain – we need our country back.”
A reader who spotted the message called the MEN who contacted the city council.
According to a new social media protocol adopted by Manchester City Council last autumn, employees are prohibited from posting comments on official or private accounts which either bring the council into disrepute or breach the employee code of conduct. The code of conduct, consistent with the public sector duty introduced in the 2010 Equality Act, stipulates that employees should not discriminate on racial grounds.
Balderstone has been suspended from his position as an IT support technician while the council carries out an investigation into the Facebook post.