Mr Grzegorz Perzanowski v Asda Stores Limited — 2021

The Claimant withdrew his holiday pay and unauthorised deductions from wages claims at the start of the full merits hearing after discussion of his payslip and the Respondent's position. The only remaining claim was unfair dismissal.

The tribunal found that the reason for dismissal was conduct, namely the Respondent's belief that the Claimant had engaged in "ghost picking" on 6 July 2019. It accepted that the dismissing and appeal managers genuinely believed the Claimant had deliberately ghost picked to cover up earlier cherry picking, and that this belief was supported by CCTV, witness evidence, checks on the relevant cages, and the Claimant's lack of dispute that the acts had occurred.

The tribunal rejected the Claimant's procedural challenges. It found that the investigation was not unreasonably delayed, that continuing the investigation meeting when the Claimant said he was affected by medication was within the range of reasonable responses, that the allegation was not improperly changed from ghost picking to falsification of records, and that the incorrect date on the dismissal letter was a clerical error. It also found that the Respondent reasonably investigated the Claimant's medication explanation and was not required to seek occupational health advice.

The tribunal concluded that ghost picking necessarily involved falsification of records, which was listed as gross misconduct in the Respondent's disciplinary policy. In the absence of accepted mitigation and taking account of previous warnings for cherry picking, dismissal fell within the range of reasonable responses. The unfair dismissal claim was therefore dismissed, and no remedy issues arose.