Employer entitled to find employee guilty of theft even though she had turned the CCTV camera off

Mark Minns, 12 November 2009

This case shows that the common sense approach can sometimes prevail.

When cashing up, Mrs Steele was filmed walking towards a CCTV camera which then ceased to operate. The employer, after conducting an investigation, felt that, on any common sense view, it was entitled to conclude that she has turned the camera off to conceal her wrongdoing and as such, they dismissed her for misconduct.

An employment tribunal decided that the dismissal was unfair criticising the employer’s decision not to take disciplinary action against another employee who had also been on cashing up duty even though the employee had since left the employer.

The EAT overturned this decision holding that the dismissal was indeed fair as, having undertaken what was found to be an adequate investigation, any employer in this situation was entitled to take the view that Mrs Steele was guilty.

Even though the common sense approach prevailed in this case, it is important for employers to remember that they must still carry out an adequate investigation before taking any disciplinary action.

Sodexho Defence Services Ltd v Steele UKEAT/037/08