Fired for refusing to sell stale food?

MadameGascar

My friend landed job in a Deli at the end of June, was a bit apprehensive as he had heard that the manager and owner weren't exactly the nicest people to work for. Nothing could have prepared him!

In the short time before he was fired, 5 weeks, very stale chicken was given to him 6-8 times to cook and serve, which he of course refused. He was also expected to serve gone-off coleslaw but he binned it. (One piece of chicken was almost a year out of date!:eek:) After his first two weeks he reported anonymously to The Food Safety Authority. When he went to work last week there were no hours for him...fired. I know that my friend is perfectly competent and employable, & he knew the reputation of the boss and manager so he kept his head down and did the job to the best standard, despite extremely poor training. He kept me informed of everything as it happened, from refusing to sell stale food, to his manager trying to trip him up by creating situations to make things difficult for him, and talking aggressively although always uncalled for.

Some of the deli staff, all Eastern European ladies apart from one Irish girl, have confided that they also are often given stale meat seriously far by its date, and other types of out-of-date food to sell, however they say that they're afraid to refuse for fear of losing their job. The point is, they hired my friend thinking he would be an idiot and when it turned out he wasn't, they gave him the sack. He made one mistake in 5 weeks working there of making a sandwich and an ice cream using the same gloves being, but says that even the manager and other staff occasionally neglect such rules themselves. I've worked in a deli myself and I know this happens. (Although not the stale chicken bit!) So they were looking for a reason to fire him and the found one. You cannot expect someone not to make one mistake in a new job. This was the reason giving for dismissal, after he had to go ask for himself why he wasn't on the roster. According to his contract he is entitled to at least one warning, never mind notice that he was being 'let-go'.

He has plenty of experience working in kitchens and knows how to handle food safely. It wasn't a serious mistake, stupider things are done behind the same counter everyday, and these people clearly aren't one bit concerned with health and safety regulations. If we weren't already certain of what was happening, they tried to embellish their argument saying that he took a wage envelope without it being handed to him, even though this was in the few minutes after he saw his name wasn't on the roster?!...

Going through citizens advice, it seems he has to have been working there longer to claim unfair dismissal? But there is obviously more than one issue of legality here! There are obviously gaps which allow them to get away with what they're doing from being very selective of staff, to messing with numbers, or taking advantage of an inadequately monitored system. When confronted about the stale food, the shop owner leaned across the desk as if to speak into my friend's 'microphone' that; "all food we sell is fully traceable." I bought chicken from the butchers in this same shop a few months back and even though it smelled a bit strong, I trusted the date on it and got food poisoning. Unfortunately I was stupid enough not to go to the doctor. If I wasn't already fairly sure where I got it from, I'm positive now.

According to him and another friend in a different shop, the tractability system is a bit of a joke. Although inspectors do visit frequently, it is not at all difficult to get away with it. But this would be the only response I imagine we can expect from the Food Safety Authority? Between selling dangerously stale food to the public, giving me food poisoning and firing my mate for refusing to do the same we are angry bunnies. Anyone know what route could possibly be taken to do something about this?

johnnyskeleton

He could contact a solicitor who specialises in employment law.

biko

He needs to sit down and write everything down pronto, before it's lost in memory.
Dates, times, who said what etc. Any way that he could get corroboration from another employee? Or pics of the put of date food?

MadameGascar

Thank you for the replies :cool:

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

He could contact a solicitor who specialises in employment law.

Yes he has contacted an employment solicitor, but will be waiting a little while for a meeting. What could he expect from this? As there's no procedure for unfair dismissal is it dealt with case by case? Would it be a long, slow, arduous process?

Do you know if The Food Safety Authority could possibly a do anything more than sending in inspectors as they do as it obviously ain't good enough?:(

biko wrote: »

He needs to sit down and write everything down pronto, before it's lost in memory.
Dates, times, who said what etc. Any way that he could get corroboration from another employee? Or pics of the put of date food?

He only managed to get pics on one day before being dismissed of one item against the date on his watch. Not a whole lot I'm afraid. (Although he did also manage to film the quite atrocious fire hazards) He took notes towards the end as he was prepared for it.:):p I will definitely encourage him to talk to the other employees, but I doubt its likely they would be too happy to help.
Would it be worth anything if an ex-employee backed him up? The problem is, I think, that if you are the person who prepared and sells the food, the onus is as much if not completely on you.