Courts / Ireland / Report

Lidl unfairly sacked deputy manager who discounted €7 worth of baked goods

Summary

In a decision published on 14 June 2022, the Workplace Relations Commission found that Lidl had unfairly dismissed deputy manager Arkadiusz Grzyb, who had nine years' service, over an incident in which he discounted €7.20 worth of baked goods for himself near the end of his shift. Grzyb argued the goods were stale and would have been written off, and that he applied a "waste not" procedure similar to that used for poultry and meat. He admitted to breaches of cash management and inventory control procedures at a disciplinary hearing on 3 March 2021, but claimed he was not informed of an accusation of theft until he saw an investigation report dated 15 February 2021. The adjudicating officer noted Lidl's procedures required bakery items to be disposed of at close of business each day, and found the dismissal disproportionate.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Lidl unfairly sacked deputy manager who discounted €7 worth of baked goods. Procedural stage: charge_or_pretrial

When:

• October 2020 Other
• December 2020 Hearing Or Sentence
• March 3 Hearing Or Sentence
• 15 March 2021 Other
• February 15, 2021 Other
• 2022-06-14 Publication

Why: He says what he did was to adapt a "common practice" in other stores to write off bakery goods earlier than designated because they were "stale". CNI source report

Case subjects

Topics

Stage Charge Or Pretrial Theft

Read the original CNI report