Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment plc dismissed a deputy manager for gross misconduct after she took bets from a customer on credit “in an act of misplaced loyalty” to her boss.
At the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), Adjudicator Brian Dolan accepted Emma Phillips carried out the practice on instruction from her manager.
However, Mr Dolan said it appears that Ms Phillips, "in an act of misplaced loyalty”, followed the wishes of her direct manager rather than reporting the issue to Flutter Entertainment through the correct channels.
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Mr Dolan accepted that Ms Phillips “was placed in an unenviable and difficult position”.
He said: "I accept that she was asked by a manager to take a course of action that she was deeply uncomfortable with and caused her distress.”
Mr Dolan said that Ms Phillips made “the incorrect decision” in taking her manager’s instruction in taking the bet on credit rather than reporting it “and committed misconduct that she knew to be against company policy and potentially harmful to the business and its customers”.
Mr Dolan stated that Flutter Entertainment is entitled, if not obliged, “to strictly enforce their rules and procedures regarding gambling behaviour”.
In dismissing Ms Phillips’s claim for unfair dismissal, Mr Dolan stated that while he found that while the dismissal of Ms Phillips “could potentially be viewed as a harsh outcome, the sanction of dismissal fell within the band of reasonable responses available” to Flutter Entertainment.
Ms Phillips commenced work with Flutter Entertainment in 2015 as a retail assistant and was promoted to Deputy Manager.
Ms Phillips’s contract was terminated in November 2020.
Flutter Entertainment told Ms Phillips that where she had knowingly breached company procedures regarding the provision of credit and the falsification of cash shortages, the bond of trust and confidence had been broken.
Flutter Entertainment said that ‘credit betting’ “is prohibited on good grounds as it could potentially lead to customers incurring insurmountable debt and facilitate gambling problems”.
In her defence, Ms Phillips stated that she had often observed credit being issued to customers in other stores.
Ms Phillips was also aware that the co-manager was engaged in the same activity and she was concerned that if she did not provide credit to customers in this manner, the branch would lose business.
Ms Phillips further stated that she had a clean disciplinary record and gave assurance that the misconduct would not occur again.
Ms Phillips stated that at their particular branch, her manager allowed a certain individual to place bets over the phone and pay for the same later on.
She stated that this particular manager also instructed one of the staff members to accept such bets from the customer.
Ms Phillips stated that in such circumstances, she stated that she was expected to accept such bets from the customer.
Ms Phillips stated that she would take the bet, write WTC (“written for customer”) on the docket and attach the customer’s name to the docket.
This process sometimes involved falsifying the cash balance, as the cash for the transaction would not be in the till but during cash checks it would be added to the total.
During the investigation and disciplinary meetings, Ms Phillips stated that she “was completely open and honest about the activities and accepted that she had committed some wrong-doing”.
Ms Phillips argued that notwithstanding this, she submitted that she had been placed in an extremely difficult position by her manager.
Ms Phillips stated in her six years of service, she did not have any disciplinary sanction and contended with this in mind, the sanction of dismissal was disproportionate and that she had been unfairly dismissed.
Ms Phillips stated that she did appeal the sanction but that she withdrew the same due to mental burnout.
In response to a question from Mr Dolan, Ms Phillips stated that she was aware of Flutter Entertainment's whistleblower policy.
When asked by Mr Dolan why she did not engage with that policy when she knew she was engaging in prohibited activity, Ms Phillips stated that she hoped the matter would be resolved without recourse to the whistleblower policy.
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