His dismissal is not justified by justice. A Spanish supermarket was condemned by the Superior Judicial Court of Castile-La Mancha for having fired an employee who had eaten a kibble destined for the garbage because it had not been sold, the Associated Press agency reported this Wednesday, November 20.
The events occurred on the evening of July 8, 2023, in a Mercadona supermarket in Albacete, details El Pais. The employee, who had been with the company for 16 years, was responsible with her colleagues for closing the store. While clearing the section of products “cooked on site”, one of her colleagues places on a trolley all the goods destined for the trash because they have not been sold at the end of the day. The employee then grabs a kibble and eats it before the products are thrown away.
A gesture which does not constitute a “serious fault”
She was then summoned two days later by management who criticized her for her actions. The regulations prohibiting the consumption of unpaid products by employees, she was immediately dismissed for “serious misconduct”. The employee then took legal action against the Mercadona brand.
In its judgment, the court established that, even if the employee’s action could be punished with a fine, it did not constitute “serious misconduct”. And “in no case”, details the legal decision, can the ingestion of a kibble which was going to be thrown in the trash generate “the most serious sanction in the world of work, such as the dismissal of the worker”.
It is notably recalled that the employee in question “did not eat a whole packet, but a single kibble (…) which would not be on sale the next day” and that the facts took place outside working hours. opening of the store. The court thus rendered a decision similar to that of the first instance, which ruled in favor of the employee in May. It was the Mercadona company which appealed and was rejected.
As a result, the supermarket chain was ordered to reinstate the unfairly dismissed employee, or failing that, to compensate her to the tune of 39,700 euros for unpaid wages. She will also have to pay him 600 euros for legal costs.