EVER thought about sharing a cheeky meme poking fun at your boss with a colleague?

Perhaps photoshopping the manager onto a movie poster or editing some famous quotes to suit your latest workplace grievances?

This might make you want to think again.

A series of memes circulated among a small circle of colleagues has led to the sacking of a West Australian university employee.

James Mitton, a senior administrative officer at the University of Western Australia’s school of indigenous studies, was dismissed from his position earlier this month.

The saga began in December when the institution’s vice chancellor, Paul Johnson, told staff just weeks before Christmas that 300 of them would lose their jobs in the new year.

Following the announcement, Mr Mitton shared a series of edited pictures with three of his colleagues.

One of the photoshopped memes was created in the style of a greeting card, with the Grinch-like message: “Season’s Greetings, I hope you’re employable elsewhere in 2016.”

Another depicted the vice-chancellor with devil’s fangs posing in front of a pit of fire, while the third saw Mr Johnson’s face superimposed over a movie poster with the tagline: “Pledged to crush.”

Mr Mitton was suspended without pay on February 9 over the emails. The letter cited “inappropriate and disrespectful photos” and said referring to the university as “evil” contributed to his alleged “serious misconduct”.

It was Mr Mitton’s reaction to this letter that led human resources to send a second on March 3 — this time a letter of dismissal — again for “serious misconduct”.

Human resources wrote that Mr Mitton’s written response had been “recalcitrant” and used “disrespectful language”.

Mr Mitton’s employment was terminated immediately without pay in lieu of notice, but he’s not going down without a fight.

He has engaged the assistance of the National Tertiary Education Union and it is understood an unfair dismissal case will be filed with the Fair Work Commission.

The Union’s WA state organiser Marty Braithwaite told news.com.au he believed Mr Mitton’s dismissal was “completely unfair” and the case “the worst that we’ve ever encountered”.

“Our view is that it really flies in the face of academic freedom and freedom of speech,” he said.

“The fact of the matter is the right to criticise your employer is really a common law right that’s fundamental to free speech. These were private communications between a couple of staff members, and while we respect the university has the right to access email on its system, this action shows it’s very thin-skinned.”

Mr Braithwaite said the memes, produced by students and forwarded on by Mr Mitton, were “lighthearted” and had been “passed on by way of amusing reference”. He said Mr Mitton had “done very little”.

Mr Braithwaite supported Mr Mitten’s claims he had not suggested the university itself was “evil”, but thats its HR department was, and claimed the quote was a reference to the science fiction TV series Stargate that had been taken out of context.

But he said the most disappointing part of the dismissal was an alleged lack of investigation and failure by the university to appoint an independent party to assess the complaint.

“Obviously people get dismissed from time to time, but normally there’s a thorough investigation, sometimes people are found guilty and dismissed, other times they’re not. From time to time we’ll think that the investigation’s not thorough, but in this case, where HR has made the complaint, investigated the complaint, dismissed him ... In this case the university’s really gone straight for the jugular.”

“The University of Western Australia will not comment on confidential internal disciplinary matters which are conducted in accordance with its Staff Agreements,” a UWA spokesperson told news.com.au.

“All staff members are expected to act in a manner consistent with the individual obligations detailed in the University’s Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct.

“It is University policy that repeated breaches of the Codes by an employee will be taken into consideration when determining disciplinary action.”

In response to his initial suspension, Mr Mitton maintained the messages weren’t sent maliciously, and he believed even if he did the act should never have led to termination.

elizabeth.burke@news.com.au