A source who raised concerns to her local newspaper about conditions in the shop where she worked during the first Covid-19 lockdown was fired in part because a journalist revealed her identity in an email to her employer, press regulator IPSO has found.

IPSO said the Halifax Courier’s failure to protect the woman’s confidentiality was a “breach of a moral obligation” that had “serious consequences” for her as it ordered the newspaper to signpost an adjudication on its front page.

The woman, who worked as a floor manager for a retail chain, posted online on 28 March about her experiences at work with the name of her employer evident on her page at that time.