John Herd loses unfair dismissal case over Red Bull

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

John Herd lost his unfair dismissal claim over taking Red Bull without paying, after a Workplace Relations Commission decision reported on 5 April 2023 found his dismissal was not unfair.

The three cans, valued at €9.45, were taken from Tesco’s Crumlin Express store on 3, 8 and 18 October 2021. Herd had worked for Tesco for more than 13 years and was a deputy manager on an annual salary of €33,900 when dismissed on 20 February 2022.

The WRC adjudicator said Herd’s position of responsibility and training meant he should have understood that the incidents could amount to gross misconduct. Tesco argued that the repeated failure to pay breached its honesty policy and broke its trust in him.

Herd said he had forgotten to pay and was under severe personal stress, including concern that he might become homeless. He also alleged that another employee had received warnings for other incidents, while he faced dismissal; those were his claims to the hearing.