Dunnes Stores trolley collector awarded €25,000 over cigarette incident

An employee who collected trolleys in a

Dunnes Stores

car park has been awarded €25,000 by the

Employment Appeals Tribunal

after it found that he was dismissed unfairly having put lost property – consisting of two packets of cigarettes and a card – into his locker.

Ali Cetiner of Grange Abbey Grove, Donaghmede in Dublin worked as a sales assistant for Dunnes Stores in Donaghmede Shopping Centre where his duties included collecting trolleys in the car park.

On January 24th, 2012 ,security told the grocery manager in the shop that a customer had reported lost property from her shopping trolley in the car park.

The manager reviewed CCTV footage and saw Mr Cetinar removing the goods, which were in an unmarked bag, from a trolley left in the trolley bay and bringing them to another shop in the centre.

Dunnes Stores said this was in breach of its policy on lost property. The manager told the tribunal that Mr Cetinar had originally denied the allegations but, on being made aware of the existence of the CCTV footage, admitted to doing so and to subsequently removing the goods from the store and placing them in his locker.

Mr Cetinar was suspended on full pay pending a disciplinary hearing on January 26th, 2012. He was subsequently dismissed by letter on January 28th, 2012, and was given the right to appeal the decision. Mr Cetinar appealed but the original decision was upheld by a regional manager.

In his evidence Mr Cetinar said he was unable to return the goods to a particular shop as he had done on many previous occasions, as the bag was unmarked. He said he was not aware of the respondent’s policy on lost property and had never been given a copy of it.

It was also argued on his behalf that a booklet on policies and procedures did not cover the issue of lost property that is not identifiable as having been purchased in Dunnes Stores.

The tribunal found that, on the balance of probabilities, Mr Cetinar was not aware of the supermarket’s policy on lost property adding that it appeared that there was no “hard and fast rule” as regards lost property which wasn’t bought in Dunnes Stores.

However, the tribunal said it could not condone Mr Cetinar’s behaviour, namely putting goods which were not his property into his locker. It found that Mr Cetinar had “contributed significantly” to his own dismissal by his actions.

Despite this the tribunal found that the sanction was disproportionate in the circumstances. It concluded that Mr Cetinar was unfairly dismissed but ruled that he had contributed to the situation.