Mr Rahmon Tesilimi-Layeni v Lidl Great Britain Limited — 2022

The Claimant was employed as a Deputy Store Manager and was dismissed after an investigation into missing promotional vouchers and a breach of cashing-up procedures. The Tribunal found that the Respondent believed he had cashed up alone, allowed a cashier to take two vouchers, and used a third voucher for his own shopping. It held that the Respondent had reasonable grounds for that belief, including CCTV footage, the cashier's account, the Claimant's changing account, and his shopping receipt.

The Tribunal noted aspects of the investigation and procedure that could have been improved, including the short CCTV clip and the fact that the Claimant was not shown interview notes relating to the cashier. It concluded, however, that the investigation and overall procedure remained within the range of reasonableness, and that dismissal was within the range of reasonable responses given the voucher findings and the Claimant's managerial position.

On victimisation, the Tribunal found that the Claimant had not, on 7 July 2020, told Miss Axtmann that another disciplinary matter was racially motivated or that Black staff were being mistreated by managers. It further concluded that, even if there had been a protected act, there was insufficient evidence that the dismissal was materially influenced by it. The victimisation claim was therefore dismissed.