A worker at Marks & Spencer (M&S), suspended for "blowing the whistle" on the high street retailer's plans to slash its redundancy pay, has been sacked for gross misconduct.

The GMB union confirmed the decision after a midday meeting at M&S's London head office. M&S awarded the employee, who worked at M&S for 25 years, eight days worth of holiday pay, which is believed to total £700.

The Times revealed two weeks ago that M&S planned to cut redundancy benefits for its workers by up to 25 per cent and that the decision had triggered a fierce backlash from staff worried that job cuts were inevitable.

An employee was suspended days later for contacting the media.

Maria Ludkin, the GMB's head of legal affairs, said today: "This is about repressing the Marks & Spencer's workforce.

"The disappointing part of today's decision is that the M&S global head of human resources, John Wareham, said that the employee's 25-year long service counted for nothing."

M&S insisted that the individual concerned had broken company rules and regulations, and added that it did not believe it was a case of whistle-blowing.

A spokeswoman at M&S, said: "We would never take a decision like this lightly."

M&S watered down the proposed changes to its redundancy terms last week. A proposal to limit the maximum payout to a staff member made redundant to 52 weeks of pay was changed to 62 weeks.

M&S insisted the revision was not down to The Times's story.

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