A deputy store manager at Lidl who was sacked from her €50,000-a-year job after being accused of taking energy drinks from stock and consuming them without paying first has failed in her claim for unfair dismissal.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) rejected a claim under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 against Lidl Ireland Gmbh by the employee, Katazyna Wadlewska, in a decision published this week.
Ms Wadlewska came under scrutiny following an internal stock audit at her store in 2023 which discovered that product was being removed from the shelf without being paid for, Lidl's employee relations manager Scott Jevons submitted.
It was alleged that Ms Wadlewska removed a six-pack of Kong Light energy drink from the supermarket between 14 and 20 August 2023 and consumed the drinks in its warehouse area.
Ed Shannan BL, instructed by Green and Associates for the complainant, submitted that his client at all stages in the disciplinary investigation "accepted she took the drinks from the shelf, drank one, and left them in the warehouse".
Ms Wadlewska maintained it was "common practice" at the store to take product at break times and pay afterwards.
She denied "any intent to steal" and said in evidence that she had purchased the drinks "either later the same day or on a subsequent day".
Ms Wadlewska told the WRC she had not been able to provide receipts because of the passage of time, but said she had paid "in full".
She told the WRC she believed there was "bias" at play in the investigation, on the basis that the investigator, a newly-appointed store manager named Steven Morrissey, was married to another worker at the store who was her subordinate.
Ms Wadlewska claimed Mr Morrissey's wife received "preferential treatment" in the workplace. She said she once confronted Mr Morrissey about that and he "reacted angrily".
Mr Morrissey, the new store manager, said that when he spoke to his predecessor in the job about the alleged practice of taking product described by Ms Wadlewska, the previous manager denied it.
He denied that there was "any conflict of interest" related to his wife's employment.
The company disciplinary officer, Steven Hegarty, gave evidence that Ms Wadlewska "admitted her actions" and expressed remorse for them.
He took the view that there had been a "fundamental breakdown of trust" in Ms Wadlewska as a senior employee at the store, and decided to dismiss her on 20 October 2023.
Adjudicator Úna Glazier-Farmer noted that in spite of Ms Wadlewska's allegations around a conflict of interest, she had not at any point raised a grievance against Mr Morrissey.
"I find that the investigation was conducted in accordance with the code of practice and that the complainant was afforded fair procedures throughout," she wrote.
She noted Ms Wadlewska did not attempt to appeal her dismissal to the company before launching a WRC complaint, on the basis that she had already found a new job.
"If there was an issue that the appeal was a mere rubber-stamping exercise, as the complainant suggested, she did not give the respondent a fair opportunity to respond," she wrote.
She considered it significant that Ms Wadlewska had the benefit of legal advice at that point.
"For these reasons, I find that the complainant was not unfairly dismissed," Ms Glazier-Farmer concluded.
