University worker ‘loses job after email autocorrects colleague’s name to Hash brown’

‘Hash brown is not a racist term. It is a breakfast item,’ says Ollie de Planta de Wildenberg

An employee at the University of Newcastle reportedly lost his job for using racist language after sending an email calling his colleague “hash brown”.

Ollie de Planta de Wildenberg, 28, “strenuously” denied the message had been sent deliberately and claimed the name of his female colleague was autocorrected by Outlook.

The university dismissed him after a disciplinary investigation, which concluded he “did type the words in question” and that they were “perceived as offensive and involving racial language”.

“Hash brown is not a racist term. It is a breakfast item,” Mr De Planta de Wildenberg told the Newcastle Chronicle.

“It is a bit weird thing to call someone that intentionally. Why would I do it?”

Mr De Planta de Wildenberg added: “To class it as gross misconduct is just unbelievable. I didn’t realise initially just how serious they were taking it.

“The sanction bears no resemblance to what happened. I strenuously deny that this message had been sent deliberately. It was a typing error.

“There is nothing to suggest this is racist.”

The 28-year-old said he was unaware of his mistake until his line manager took him aside on the following morning, 26 September.

“When I was told, I just thought ‘oh my days’. I had not met or spoken to this woman before so I had no reason to call her a name,” he told the paper.

“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.”

However, he was then reportedly called into a disciplinary hearing where he was informed an investigation into gross misconduct had begun.

He was fired later that day after bosses at the university said they were unable to replicate the autocorrected name.

“I believe that in the balance of probability that you did type the words in question and that the words were perceived as offensive and involving racial language,” the university said in a letter to Mr De Planta de Wildenberg, the Newcastle Chronicle reported.

Mr De Planta de Wildenberg, who had been working full-time at the university for four days before he was fired, said he has since taken up jobs as a kitchen porter, waiter and barman.

A spokesperson for Newcastle University said: “We can confirm Oliver de Planta de Wildenberg is no longer employed by Newcastle University.”

When asked to comment on further details about the case by The Independent they refused.