The male member of staff, who does not work in the HR department "directly", was approached by The Times to comment on M&S's plans to cut redundancy payments by as much as 25% for some employees. As a result of this comment, he was suspended and will face a disciplinary hearing on Monday 1 September.
The employee is a member of the GMB union, which will represent him.
Maria Ludkin, legal and corporate affairs officer at the GMB, told Human Resources: "I think this is a massive over-reaction. If the employee had said something positive about the company, it would never have reacted in this way. Hundreds of employees knew about the redundancy changes anyway so it was not classified information."
She added: "Marks and Spencer is a highly respected retailer and I don't understand when they became the thought police. I know there are some sensible people there, so hopefully the firm will see sense and reconsider in the disciplinary."
A spokeswoman from M&S refused to comment except to say that it was an "internal matter".
The disciplinary hearing will take place on the same day that the redundancy benefits are changed.
M&S employee faces disciplinary for talking to the press
An employee at Marks and Spencers London head office has been suspended for talking to the press about the retailer's plans to slash redundancy benefits.
