An assembly worker for BMW has been awarded £17,000 in compensation after getting sacked for going to Burger King during his shift.
Ryan Parkinson worked as an operative on the assembly line at a BMW factory in Oxford when he was alleged to have "disappeared" for nearly an hour while working overtime.
Mr Parkinson apparently did not tell his superiors that he was leaving, something that he disputes, and was sacked following a disciplinary investigation into the incident.
Mr Parkinson's firing was overturned on appeal but when he left without permission to collect sandwiches from his car, he was sacked once again. He claimed race discrimination, race-related harassment and victimisation but these were dismissed in the case.
However, he won against his employer for unfair dismissal and was awarded £16,916 in compensation and unpaid wages. Mr Parkinson had worked for GI Group, a recruitment agency, since January 2014.
Employment Judge Stephen Vowles said: "[GI Group] failed to investigate the assertions by [Mr Parkinson] and his trade union representatives that this was a widespread practice done during break times by dozens of other employees.
"There was no evidence of any procedure in place by [GI Group] for obtaining permission to exit the site or to notify a supervisor of exiting the site or the recording of any such permission or notification.
"Leaving a secure area through a turnstile for a few minutes to visit a car in the company car park when, it seems, that many other employees did exactly the same, though not investigated by [GI Group], did not amount to gross misconduct.
"He left his place of work to visit his car to collect his sandwiches during a break."
The tribunal heard that Mr Parkinson's supervisor filed a reported claiming the worker has been "missing off site" in June 2018 during a Sunday night overtime shift. The report stated that he went missing between 7.50pm and 8.45pm without consent or permission to leave site.
He became "upset" and went home at 9.45pm, the tribunal heard, before he was questioned by bosses three days later, where he explained that he left after the assembly team had finished a job and started discussing food.
According to The Sun, he said: "Everyone wanted a kebab, and I said I wanted a Burger King. My [co-workers] were talking about what they were going to get. I said I’m going to get a Burger King. I got on a scooter thing and went and got a Burger King and sat in my car until half past."
Mr Parkinson rang a colleague at around 8.30pm when he was told that his co-workers had to work through their break as their food had not arrived so he returned with his remaining items from Burger King. He was then confronted by a supervisor who claimed he did not say he was leaving, which Mr Parkinson disputes.
Mr Parkinson was signed off work with stress and anxiety on August 23, 2018 until February 2019 and had a disciplinary hearing three months after his return, but was sacked. On appeal, his dismissal was rescinded to a final warning but when returning to work, he was suspended for fresh allegations of leaving site without permission.
In November, he was sacked for another breach of the same offence, and he brought his employers to tribunal.
