Airport security man sacked for reading newspaper

An airport security man was sacked for reading a newspaper and taking his eye off luggage at Dublin airport.

The Employment Appeals Tribunal has now ruled that security firm ICTS UK Ltd was correct to sack Rodney Monks for gross misconduct by reading the paper when he was supposed to be observing the American Airlines luggage.

After the two days of evidence in Dublin, the tribunal found that Mr Monks’s claim for unfair dismissal failed.

ICTS provides security services for transatlantic flights at Dublin airport. The tribunal found that the company was reasonable in sacking Mr Monks particularly due to the context and nature of its business and the complaint made.

The complaint against Mr Monks was made by a manager of American Airlines who witnessed the incident .

Mr Monks was contracted to work for American Airlines as a “baggage observer” at Dublin Airport on June 28th 2011.

The tribunal report recorded that American Airlines complained that one of the two agents in the baggage hall was leaning against the bin while reading a newspaper on the date.

As a result, ICTS suspended the two security agents.

‘Gross misconduct’

After a disciplinary meeting, ICTS’s operations manager found that Mr Monks’s actions constituted gross misconduct in that he failed to perform the allocated duties, which constitutes dereliction of duty and serious or wilful breach of a security procedure.

Mr Monks was formally dismissed for his admission “to reading a newspaper whilst on duty on the 28th June 2011, while he was supposed to be observing AA baggage.”

Mr Monks’s appeal to the tribunal was based on the proportionality of the sanction.

In his evidence, Mr Monks said that he was employed by ICTS for four years without any disciplinary issues.

He said that it was common practice to read the newspaper in this area and he admitted to reading it.