Get caught stealing chips - Win €8000 !!!

Lapin · 23-04-2014 11:06AM #1

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/dunnes-has-to-pay-worker-8000-after-spy-camera-catches-her-eating-deli-food-30209450.html

A DUNNES Stores worker who was fired after admitting to eating deli food without paying has been awarded €8,000 by the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

Karen Deegan had worked in the Knocknacarra, Galway, branch for four years prior to losing her job in October 2011.

She was one of up to nine employees to lose their jobs over eating unpaid-for food.

The tribunal heard the cameras were installed unbeknownst to staff after an anonymous call informed the head office that staff were consuming food.

Did the staff really think it was acceptable to help themselves to free food?
What would they think if the customers walked out without paying for it?

I see nothing wrong with Dunnes installing a camera. If the staff were honest and doing what they were being paid to do, they'd still have a job.

There is something wrong when someone wins €8000 in compensation for her own dishonesty.

Claims that "Dunnes Stores has very serious questions to answer on its behaviour of installing cameras to place its workers on constant surveillance without them knowing about it." are a load of bollox.

This was the only way Dunnes could prove their staff were tea leafs.

JustAddWater · 23-04-2014 11:07AM

is it only me who thought this was about vegas?

Tokyo · 23-04-2014 11:11AM

Pretty sure that the €8,000 was for illegally recording them as employees, not stealing a few chips.

FTA69 · 23-04-2014 11:12AM

Very hard to feel any sort of sympathy for Dunnes Stores though considering they are notorious for treating their staff like sh*t at the best of the times. Likewise, the reason they have had to shell out is because they skipped acceptable dismissal procedure and broke the law in doing so.

I'm not justifying thieving from the workplace, rather pointing out that the dismissal procedures in place were hard fought for by people and have been instrumental in protecting workers from being mistreated and cast aside by their bosses.

Cookie_Monster · 23-04-2014 11:12AM

another case where the courts seems to ultimately do their best to make the scumbag appear to be the victim.

RoboRat · 23-04-2014 11:12AM

I don't know which is worse, that they had the audacity to bring this case when they were clearly in the wrong or that they actually won it?

Some of the judiciary in the country should be put on trial for their shocking decisions.

crusher000 · 23-04-2014 11:12AM

The law is very rigid about this you cannot put surveillance cameras on any staff members without them being notified. All employers know this and the law can't be flaunted regardless of the action taken by hte employee.

Were they addressed verbally about their actions of theft? Were they formally warned about their actions ?

FTA69 · 23-04-2014 11:13AM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

another case where the courts seems to ultimately do their best to make the scumbag appear to be the victim.

I'd hardly say that a low-paid woman eating a few chicken goujons while working for a massively profitable company is a "scumbag" either. It's not as if she was taking a machete to newborn kittens.

upstairs for coffee · 23-04-2014 11:15AM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

another case where the courts seems to ultimately do their best to make the scumbag appear to be the victim.

Jesus christ. Working at a deli is not a glamorous job. Lots of dead time. Surrounded by food. Eating a few chips is hardly scumbag behaviour is it?

Yeah it is wrong but scumbag? Come off it.

Cookie_Monster · 23-04-2014 11:15AM

FTA69 wrote: »

I'd hardly say that a low-paid woman eating a few chicken goujons while working for a massively profitable company is a "scumbag" either. It's not as if she was taking a machete to newborn kittens.

theft is scumbag behaviour, no excuses for it. Clearly it was an ongoing thing and not just one chip.

Guy:Incognito · 23-04-2014 11:17AM

upstairs for coffee wrote: »

Jesus christ. Working at a deli is not a glamorous job. Lots of dead time. Surrounded by food. Eating a few chips is hardly scumbag behaviour is it?

Yeah it is wrong but scumbag? Come off it.

What else is it ok to steal? Some socks? a few pairs of traksuit bottoms? cigarettes?

suicide_circus · 23-04-2014 11:18AM

Caught on camera stealing from your employer? 8 grand

Break in to a festival drunk and hurt yourself? 10 grand

Walk on a clearly slippy surface and slip? 20 grand

Having a justice system which rewards stupidity? Priceless.

MagicIRL · 23-04-2014 11:18AM

Two wrongs don't make a right. You can't just go illegally recording your staff because you suspect them of doing something. I'm fairly sure there's a whole chain of communication you're legally required to go through before dismissing someone as well.

Cookie_Monster · 23-04-2014 11:19AM

crusher000 wrote: »

The law is very rigid about this you cannot put surveillance cameras on any staff members without them being notified. All employers know this and the law can't be flaunted regardless of the action taken by hte employee.

staff will be fully aware that cameras are operating in the store as part of induction (I know, I've done it). why do they specifically need to be told if additional ones are installed?

crusher000 · 23-04-2014 11:20AM

Maybe she was tasting them to ensure they were thr right temperature and still fresh ?

turnikett1 · 23-04-2014 11:20AM

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

What else is it ok to steal? Some socks? a few pairs of traksuit bottoms? cigarettes?

They're not ok to steal, obviously. Helping yourself to a goujon when you work in a deli all day isn't comparable in the slightest

Brendan Flowers · 23-04-2014 11:20AM

Sensationalist and misleading thread title. Good work OP. We'd be forgiven for mistaking AH for a tabloid paper these days...

Sir Arthur Daley · 23-04-2014 11:21AM

Law is law, dunnes should have adhered to it and gone through the process of installing cameras correctly, this would have stopped the petty theft anyway although they might not have known the culprit.

crusher000 · 23-04-2014 11:21AM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

staff will be fully aware that cameras are operating in the store as part of induction (I know, I've done it). why do they specifically need to be told if additional ones are installed?

Absoutely like if they're installed in a staffchanging area after you were given your induction. Hats off.

Guy:Incognito · 23-04-2014 11:22AM

turnikett1 wrote: »

They're not ok to steal, obviously. Helping yourself to a goujon when you work in a deli all day isn't comparable in the slightest

How is it not? Stealing is stealing, why is it ok just because it's food? Whats wrong with helping yourself to a cheap pair of socks when your working in drapery all day?

Amirani · 23-04-2014 11:23AM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

staff will be fully aware that cameras are operating in the store as part of induction (I know, I've done it). why do they specifically need to be told if additional ones are installed?

Because it's the law?

23-04-2014 11:23AM

I hope all those on their high horses have never stolen a pen, been on the internet for personal use (stealing your employers time), used the company phone for personal calls, taken longer on breaks etc.

It's a few chips.

Secretly monitoring staff is such a big no no. If they were that interested to know what the staff were up to, they should have told them.

suicide_circus · 23-04-2014 11:23AM

Employees have FAR to much protection in ireland imo.

As long as you show up on time everyday, it is next to impossible to fire someone after probation unless the assault someone. People who are completely **** at their job, couldnt give a bollix, crap customer service, bad attitude, lazy - cant get rid of the *****!

JonKelleher · 23-04-2014 11:23AM

mike_ie wrote: »

Pretty sure that the €8,000 was for illegally recording them as employees, not stealing a few chips.

It was. It doesn't exactly take Einstein to deduce that either!

FTA69 · 23-04-2014 11:24AM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

staff will be fully aware that cameras are operating in the store as part of induction (I know, I've done it). why do they specifically need to be told if additional ones are installed?

Because there is a difference between plain-view cameras and spy cameras installed without the knowledge of the workers. Likewise, if ye read the article ye will see that Dunnes got fined for acting illegally and also not following employment law in their dismissal procedure.

As I said above, I don't condone dipping food products but at the same time I have a sense of perspective. A deli-worker eating a few chips is not in the same league as stroking valuable cigarettes etc despite the hyperbole some people in this thread have engaged in. Likewise Dunnes have time and time again proved themselves to be actual scumbags in their treatment of their staff which far outstrips someone nibbling on goujons.

Guy:Incognito · 23-04-2014 11:24AM

crusher000 wrote: »

Absoutely like if they're installed in a staffchanging area after you were given your induction. Hats off.

Now that's not the same at all. The Deli counter is on the shop floor and I'd be amazed if it wasn't able to be seen on some camera already, the new one just gave a proper look at what the staffs hands were at I'd say.

Guy:Incognito · 23-04-2014 11:25AM

Sir Arthur Daley wrote: »

Law is law, dunnes should have adhered to it and gone through the process of installing cameras correctly, this would have stopped the petty theft anyway although they might not have known the culprit.

and they'd still have thieves working for them, theyd just be stealing from places with no cameras.

RoboRat · 23-04-2014 11:25AM

The law is very rigid about this you cannot put surveillance cameras on any staff members without them being notified. All employers know this and the law can't be flaunted regardless of the action taken by hte employee.

I can imagine the scenario.

DS: We suspect you are eating food without paying.
Staff: Can you prove it?
DS: No
Staff: Taking you to court for Libel

DS: We are installing cameras because food is being eaten without being paid for
Staff: Can you prove it?
DS: No
Staff: Taking you to court for Libel

DS: We are installing cameras
Staff: Why
DS: Because we want to
Staff: Lets walk out

etcetera, etcetera

jimgoose · 23-04-2014 11:25AM

Heh. I can imagine if I were working in a deli all day I'd be at the chips like a sort of walking combine-harvester. Of course I fully agree that this would make me a wretched boil on the arse of humanity who should be killed twice and then thrun in a ditch.

crusher000 · 23-04-2014 11:27AM

suicide_circus wrote: »

Employees have FAR to much protection in ireland imo.

As long as you show up on time everyday, it is next to impossible to fire someone after probation unless the assault someone. People who are completely **** at their job, couldnt give a bollix, crap customer service, bad attitude, lazy - cant get rid of the *****!

Isn't that the reason for interviews and references ? Lack of motivation can be a big problem but they're can be many reasons why people ain't up to the standard they need to be. I agree though it is tough to give someone the road in this Country.

suicide_circus · 23-04-2014 11:27AM

jimgoose wrote: »

Heh. I can imagine if I were working in a deli all day I'd be at the chips like a sort of walking combine-harvester. Of course I fully agree that this would make me a wretched boil on the arse of humanity who should be killed twice and then thrun in a ditch.

No but you should be sacked.

Get caught stealing chips - Win €8000 !!!

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