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a jd wetherspoon Employee He has been awarded more than £25,000 after being reprimanded and investigated for using his staff discount to pay for meals with his employees. Family,
Brandon Halstead was a kitchen associate at Albany Place in Trowbridge. Investigated by his masters and called gross misconduct hearing He then used his employee discount to pay for a meal for seven people, including himself, without knowing it belonged to the pub chain. Policy Only applies to parties of four or less.
Mr Halstead, who is autistic, had to take sick leave due to anxiety after the rebuke and said the situation had put him in “serious distress”, leaving him feeling “persecuted and dejected”.
When his mother complained that she suffered “appalling treatment despite no adjustments being made to her situation”, Mr. Halstead took his bosses to task. tribunal,
The tribunal found that wetherspoons Failed to make reasonable adjustments to Mr. Halstead’s disability throughout its investigation. Another claim of disability-related harassment by Mr. Halstead was dismissed.
In August 2023, Mr Halstead went for a meal at one of the chain’s pubs with his mother and five family members. They saved £19.17 by using their employee discount.
Mr. Halstead was called into a meeting with his shift Manager Five days later, he was informed that he was being investigated for violating the staff exemption policy. She also told her manager that her mother had access to her Wetherspoon app to view her rota timetable, which her manager told her was a “breach of data protection policy”.
During the meeting, Mr Halstead apologized and claimed he was not aware the exemption only applied to four people. He also said that he would get his mother to delete the app immediately, which he did.
After the meeting, Mr. Halstead tells his manager that he is autistic and wants his mother to attend formal meetings with him.
At a second inquest a little more than a week later, Mr Halstead and his mother described his condition autism This meant she needed access to her app on her phone so she could plan bus times and lifts for her son.
Mr Halstead was then asked to attend a disciplinary hearing for gross misconduct, and was accused of being dishonest, abusing his immunity and failing to follow Wetherspoon’s data policy.
Mr. Halstead informed his manager that he required his mother’s presence at the meetings, yet she was not invited to the hearing.
The tribunal heard that Mr Halstead was not offered any other additional support, including the option to hold meetings on Zoom, sending questions in advance and being allowed to provide a written submission to his manager.
The manager acknowledged that Mr. Halstead had received a template letter that was not customized to his needs.
In the tribunal’s findings, employment judge Murdoch wrote: “We have seen from multiple sources of written and oral evidence that Mr Halstead requires his mother to be present at any formal meetings.
“We have found that the application of this standard procedure to not allow a representative or partner to be present during the investigation meeting…puts (Mr Halstead) at a significant disadvantage compared to someone without the Claimant’s autism.”
The tribunal heard that his manager’s behavior caused him to take time off work due to “considerable stress and anxiety”, which meant he was unable to leave his bedroom.
While discussing his return to work, Mr. Halstead’s mother requested compensation, which was denied.
Wetherspoon was ordered to pay Mr Halstead £3,520 for financial loss, £18,500 for hurt feelings, and interest at 8% on a further sum of £3,392.
Murdoch wrote: “The claimant immediately admitted breaking the rules of the exemption policy because he was unaware of the rules. A distinctive feature of autism is a strong desire to follow the rules.
“The claimant immediately said he was sorry and that it would not happen again, now that he understood what the rules were.”
JD Wetherspoon declined to comment.