RPA worker sacked after Twitter comments

An employee at the Rural Payments Agency has been dismissed for gross misconduct after posting comments on the social network website Twitter.

The worker had posted a series of tweets that were related to the badger cull. It was not the subject matter but the behaviours expressed in the comments that led to her dismissal.

An RPA spokesman said: “The RPA does not tolerate misconduct on the part of its employees and thoroughly investigates all reports.

“In this particular case we can confirm an RPA employee has been dismissed for gross misconduct and contravening the Civil Service Code.”

Following the decision, the RPA worker is understood to have deleted a series of tweets which led to her dismissal.

The worker confirmed on her Twitter page that she was sacked on Wednesday (18 September). When asked why by other bloggers, the employee replied “integrity and I upset stakeholders also said soz (sic)”.