M & S sales assistant ‘hid’ clothes from view and bought them later

A male sales assistant at an Irish branch of M&S was sacked after he ‘hid’ children’s clothes on a rack and later bought them as a gift for a child relative.

Now, the Employment Appeals Tribunal has ordered Marks & Spencer Ireland Ltd to pay Michael McCrann €14,540 after ruling that he had been unfairly dismissed.

M&S sacked Mr McCrann for a gross breach of company regulations on March 17, 2012, after CCTV showed him placing children’s sales items behind non-sale items so as to reduce the chances of these items being bought by customers.