Fired from bar-job for not charging staff full price of pints

Nobody’s saying that.

What’s being said is that there’s a way it needs to be done to protect the employer from any subsequent claim of unfair dismissal.

And we don't know if that was done or not in this case.

Most of the time it really is a simple conversation when you work in an industry full of computerized tills and CCTV.

I get the feeling some people are coming at this from a world of office/factory style "he said, she said" HR complains.

In a criminal case a judge would clearly mitigate that and say the accused did not benefit from the theft.

Were the other staff members that got cheaper drinks sanctioned too? They must have known they underpaid.

It seems very heavy handed of the employer to go for the barman. Where is the due process employers are supposed to follow when embarking on a sacking ?

Just because you did it, doesn't mean it is allowed. Worth noting that cctv evidence is not always enough too.

A week off from looking for a job.

There's more to this than the OP is telling us or that the son is telling his father.

I used to frequent a pub some years ago and regularly witnessed one part time, (weekend) barman serve a group of 4 sometimes up to 6 of his mates (their tipple of choice was Fat Frogs in pint glasses) One lad would hand over a €10.00, barman would open the till and go thru the motions and give back at least €6 or €7 in loose change. It later transpired that what I witnessed was just the tip of the iceberg. (pub no longer in business)

My sister in law and her husband bought a pub, it was their first time in the pub trade and to say they were green is an understatement. It's over 3 hours drive from us so we only visit a few times a year. On my second visit I nearly fell off my seat when I recognized the bar man on duty - he was the very same lad who was serving the free Fat Frogs to his friends.

To cut a long story short hidden cameras were put in place and he was caught 'fiddling the till' big time and other indiscretions. Needless to say he was sacked and he immediately threatened solicitors letters, unfair dismissal case etc. in labour court....but when he realised there was video evidence he disappeared without trace.

It turned out that he had glowing references from two previous bars he worked in one being my old local, both turned out to be bogus which were taken at face value and not checked out.😒

Proof of wrongdoing or theft is not as simple as a manager saying he had them 'bang to rights '

It can be subject to adjucation if the incident(s) are disputed

Its very common in this forum, there are people who think every business is constantly in the WRC because they didn't use the right words when giving a warning, and that every SME has a full HR department to deal with their 5 staff.

Probably see how he got that cavalier attitude

He undercharged a couple of mates for pints. He shouldn’t have done it and he ultimately paid a heavy price.

But a bit of perspective. it wasn’t exactly a heist.