Dunnes staffer loses dismissal award

A Dunnes Stores deli assistant, who was sacked after admitting she had eaten chicken wings and goujons without paying for them, has lost the €8,000 compensation the Employment Appeals Tribunal awarded her for unfair dismissal.

Judge Jacqueline Linnane in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday told barrister Marcus Dowling, counsel for Dunnes, there were substantial grounds justifying the company’s “fair decision” to dismiss her, along with seven other members of staff.

The judge overturned the tribunal’s finding and dismissed a claim by Karen Deegan who, in a cross-appeal, had asked the court to increase her compensation award. The EAT had found that while she had contributed substantially to her own downfall in the loss of her job at the Knocknacarra, Galway, branch of Dunnes in October 2011, she had still been unfairly dismissed