A former Iceland employee won £3,000 after a tribunal found she was unfairly sacked for eating a Cadbury’s Twirl worth 20p.
Sharon Cassidy said she believed the opened multipack of the chocolate bars belonged to a colleague, and said members of staff often ate each other’s food which had been left at tills.
But Miss Cassidy, who had worked for the supermarket chain for 15 years, was fired for theft after Iceland bosses saw her eating the chocolate on CCTV.
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She also gave some of the chocolate - from a £1 pack of five - to a customer's child, Wales Online reports.
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 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."
What do you think about what happened to Miss Cassidy? Leave your comment below.
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