€150,000 awarded to four Tesco Workers
Tesco has been ordered to pay out over €150,000 in compensation to four of its former staff who were wrongly sacked as a result of a flawed disciplinary process by the company.
The retailer fired the long-serving staff members for failing to pay immediately for food they consumed on 2 different occasions, even though it was common practice among all employees to pay for the meals at a later stage.
Employees at the branch were not allowed to carry cash or purses in the cáfe at the time, as per company policy, and as such paying for food from the tip jar was the norm. Therefore the practice had arisen out of necessity because the employees could not carry cash on their person while on duty.
The four women were suspended with full pay after a security guard witnessed them serving themselves food without appearing to pay for it. Based on CCTV footage Tesco claimed the four staff members had breached company policy and had engaged in theft and fraud.
All four women stated they believed they had done nothing wrong but would have ceased the practice immediately if they had been informed they were in breach of company policy.
The tribunal said the conduct of Tesco's disciplinary and appeal process into the allegations was unsatisfactory and described some of its findings as "irrational". It further noted that Tesco's honesty and purchase policies are not sufficiently clear when it comes to the consumption of food by employees.
Accordingly the Tribunal found that the company's dismissal of the four employees was disproportionate and the EAT ordered the Irish division of the British Grocery company to pay a total of €153,521 - awarded in sums of €61,918, €41,000, €35,000 and €15,103 to the quartet.
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