Cashier fired after Garda supermarket booze sting

A Galway supermarket cashier was fired for selling alcohol to a minor, who was employed by Gardaí for an undercover ‘sting’.

The woman, who had worked for Dunnes Stores in Westside for eleven years, admitted wrongdoing and apologised but she was dismissed.

The worker took an unfair dismissal case to the Labour Court but it sided with the supermarket chain in a ruling.

The employment tribunal heard how management at Westside Dunnes were informed on August 14, 2012, that the store had failed a “Garda purchase check”.

At an investigation hearing eight days later, the cashier admitted she had requested identification proof of age from a customer who was purchasing alcohol and although he could not provide identification she proceeded to sell the alcohol.

She apologised for wrongdoing and did not make any reference to a medical issue as the reason for her action. She was suspended with pay pending a disciplinary meeting.

A week later the grocery manager took the decision to dismiss her based on breach of the law and the breach of company policy in relation to the sale of alcohol to a minor.

The manager told the tribunal the worker had no outstanding disciplinary matters on her record at the time and he said he did not accept that the claimant was under any pressure to attend work while ill or unfit.

She appealed the dismissal to the regional manager but this failed on the grounds that it was not an error of judgement by the claimant as she asked for identification from the purchaser and recited the policy to the customer before continuing with the sale.

The tribunal heard how the woman had worked at the supermarket for 11 years in the role of sales assistant with duties including support to check-out area, customer services and the training of new employees. She was unwell on the August 13  2012 suffering from high blood pressure but decided to attend work as she felt under pressure due to upcoming holidays she had booked.

On August 14, the date of the incident, her supervisor had given her permission to have her blood pressure checked during her shift and she confirmed it was beginning to return to normal. It was approaching the end of her shift when she sold the alcohol to a minor without any identification. The woman took full responsibility for the incident and apologised.

She took the case to the Labour Court because she felt the sanction of dismissal was not reasonable as she was a long-serving good employee.

However, the tribunal ruled that the sanction of dismissal was not disproportionate.

It found the woman, “simply made a wrong decision at the end of her shift in allowing, after requesting identification, a minor to proceed to purchase alcohol, having told the minor that the next customer could be a Garda, and to bring identification the next time, in clear contravention of company policy and the law.”