Mitchells & Butlers pays employee £12k after judge rules "unfair dismissal"

Simon Jennings, assistant manager at the Lyppard Grange pub in Warndon Villages, Worcester, was sacked by M&B because it believed he had altered stock accounts at the pub.

With the support of his wife and the pub’s manager Joanna, Jennings made a compensation claim for unfair dismissal against M&B. He told Birmingham Employment Tribunal he had been forced to leave the pub via a back door and was banned from the premises.

Anthony Kay, who was representing M&B, said the dismissal had been justified.

The three-day hearing took place from 9-11 July.

Tribunal judge John Goodier said that although Jennings had shown laziness in failing to adequately do the stock taking, there had been no financial gain. He added that Jennings had been unfairly dismissed.

Goodier also described M&B’s investigation of the situation as “woeful and inadequate” and said it was made worse by suspending Jennings in front of his work colleagues, as opposed to in private.

Jennings said he thought the accounting equipment had malfunctioned and that someone else could have changed the figures.

Goodier awarded Mr Jennings a total of £12,600 which included compensation for the “humiliation” of his suspension. He also ordered that Jennings should be reinstated at the pub on July 23.

An M&B spokesperson said: “We believe we conducted a thorough investigation and we accept the judge’s recommendations. Simon is now back at work where he is receiving additional coaching and training.”