An Iceland worker has won £3,000 after an employment tribunal found she was unfairly sacked for eating a 20p Cadbury’s Twirl.
Sharon Cassidy said she believed the opened multi-pack of Twirls belonged to another member of staff and colleagues often ate each other’s food which had been left at tills.
But she was fired for theft as Iceland bosses found CCTV footage of her eating the chocolate treat from the £1 pack of five without paying for it, and giving another to a customer’s child.
Shocked at her treatment, she then sued and a tribunal has now ruled the incident was not properly investigated by Iceland and Miss Cassidy was unfairly dismissed. It awarded her £3,000 in compensation.
The tribunal heard Miss Cassidy worked as a part-time sales assistant from 2004 at Iceland’s shop in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland.
In February 2019, she was asked to tidy up items that had been left out following a stock count the evening before.
A duty manager took over from Miss Cassidy and found an open five pack of single wrapped Twirls with only one remaining.
The tribunal heard the packet was to be reduced from the night before as it had burst open and so had been left with just three of the chocolate sticks in it.
After being alerted that the packet now contained just one Twirl, senior supervisor Margaret Paterson checked the store’s CCTV cameras and saw Miss Cassidy opening them and handing one to a customer’s child in a pram.
On the CCTV, Miss Cassidy could then be seen going under a checkout till for a time and, when she stood up, appeared to be eating something.
Miss Cassidy was then investigated for taking an item from the store without paying for it.
In Iceland, a five pack of Cadbury’s Twirls currently costs £1 which makes an individually wrapped Twirl in the pack worth 20p.
During an investigation hearing, Miss Cassidy admitted giving the chocolate to a customer’s child and eating one herself.
She said she thought they belonged to ‘one of the staff,’ and ‘we’re always eating each other’s food,’ and ‘it’s not uncommon for sweets to be left at tills.’
She added that if she had known the packet belonged to the store, she would have paid for it.
Miss Cassidy was then fired for stealing the two chocolate bars. She later appealed the decision but it was not upheld and she decided to sue her former employer.
The tribunal said: “Miss Cassidy argues there was no reasonable basis on which Iceland could have formed a belief that she knew the items in question were the property of the company, and therefore guilty of theft.
“The item did not appear to be stock: the packet was open and sweets were missing from the packet; it had not been half priced; it was not on a shelf or a topper; or hanging up with other stock.
“[It was] not established that Miss Cassidy knew the items were stock, and it was not reasonable to assume Miss Cassidy knew or ought to have known the items were stock.”
The tribunal in Glasgow, Scotland, heard Iceland had a policy for employees buying items during their shift which included getting the receipt signed for by a manager.
The policy also says that once the items are bought, they must be removed from the store’s premises or kept in an area of the shop that had been approved by the manager.
The tribunal ruled the policy was not strictly followed at the Paisley store where Miss Cassidy worked and Iceland did not properly investigate her claim that staff often ate food at the tills before firing her.
Employment Judge Muriel Robison said: “I have found in this case that Iceland failed to properly investigate the misconduct before making the decision to dismiss.
“Had Iceland conducted a reasonable investigation, then Iceland may well have ascertained that Miss Cassidy was not dishonest, since she had not realised the item was stock; that receipts often got lost and that Iceland’s apparently strict policy in that regard was not in operation at the Paisley store."
Judge Robison said that when Iceland did investigate the incident at Miss Cassidy's appeal, it was too late as members of staff would not admit breaking the policy about eating food while working.
Judge Robison said: “It was simply too late to investigate the circumstances after Miss Cassidy had been dismissed because anyone who did admit to eating at the tills knew that might put their job, or indeed the job of their colleagues, in jeopardy.”
Miss Cassidy was awarded £3,010.
