Most posts had under 60 views and didn't even name the employer, but he was sacked anyway
New Zealand software developer who fired off late-night Instagram Stories complaining about long hours and his "boss cracking the whip" has won his unjustified dismissal claim, even though he accepted the posts were unprofessional.
In a determination released on 1 May 2026, Employment Relations Authority member Simon Greening ruled that FutureCo Limited had no proper basis to sack Daniel Bly for serious misconduct over the posts. The small software firm, which has nine employees, failed to investigate the allegations properly, did not genuinely consider Bly's response, and never considered alternatives to dismissal.
Bly worked as FutureCo's only full-time software developer, leading the build of the "KFC 6 & Shout" cricket-themed game running inside KFC's mobile app. The project had a tight November 2024 deadline, and by mid-November Bly says he was exhausted from the hours. According to git commit records, he worked an extra 278 hours over an eleven-week stretch, roughly 25 additional hours a week, with some commits logged between midnight and 5am.
During the evening of 25 November and the early hours of 26 November 2024, Bly posted a series of Instagram Stories venting about his workload. Most were "restricted" posts visible only to his roughly 60 followers, set to auto-delete after 24 hours. View counts ranged from 13 to 60. One post used a South Park image with a caption referring to Bly "bitching about working unpaid overtime as a university dropout working as development lead." A live video showed him swearing about his boss, though he never named director Oz Jabur or FutureCo. A final post that afternoon read: "Boss is being well behaved now and has briefly sopped cracking the whip so it is now NAP TIME (surely he wants to go on another honeymoon)."
The catch: Bly phoned Jabur himself at 10.07am on 26 November to tell him about the posts. The next day, 27 November, Jabur placed Bly on garden leave that morning and proposed suspension that evening. Bly agreed, was suspended from 28 November, and was terminated on 5 December 2024 after a disciplinary meeting that ran for about 23 minutes before reconvening at 12.50pm, when Jabur delivered the termination decision.
The dismissal letter relied on clause 33.1 of Bly's individual employment agreement, which states the "Employee must not use any social media communication to make comments that jeopardize, disparage, or otherwise damage the interests of the employer, its business, commercial activities or other employees." FutureCo also pointed to clauses on professional conduct, confidentiality, good faith, and privacy.
Greening was unconvinced. "[A] fair and reasonable employer could not have concluded that Mr Bly's posts brought, or risked bringing, FCL into disrepute," he wrote. The posts didn't name the employer or the director, most were restricted with limited views, and no customers or clients had complained.
On the messages Bly sent McGregor and Jabur on Slack and by text, including "Luke, I will remind you that you are arguing with your literal boss," Greening found they were "unprofessional in nature" but did "not amount to behaviour that could be described as bullying and/or harassment."
The Authority also found FutureCo unjustifiably required excessive hours between 5 September and 25 November 2024. However, Bly's separate health and safety claim, suspension claim, and good-faith breach claim all failed.
Greening ordered FutureCo to pay Bly $3,000 for the excessive-hours disadvantage, $12,000 compensation for the unjustified dismissal, six months' salary as lost remuneration, and 16 hours of unpaid annual leave, all within 28 days. The lost-remuneration award was reduced by 50 percent for Bly's blameworthy conduct, with Greening noting Bly's behaviour was "unacceptable and unprofessional" and that "Mr Jabur was justifiably upset because of Mr Bly's posts." The Authority noted Bly had been forced to live with a friend and later in his car after losing the role.
