Fired till-raider’s wage claims fail

Friday 29 May 2020

A hotel worker, who was fired after being caught saving cash tips in the till, and taking them when they reached a higher total, has had his claim that he was "significantly underpaid" thrown out by the Employment Tribunal.

Petru Sebru accused his former employer, the Waterfront-based Radisson Blu, of owing him money for unpaid wages, and pay for his notice period, after being dismissed.

But, after coming before the Deputy Chair of the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal Advocate Fraser Robinson in February, the claim was dismissed.

According to the Tribunal's judgment, which was published this week, Mr Sebru said that he had been “significantly underpaid” by the hotel chain, claiming that 80 hours he’d worked hadn’t been logged in his company’s electronic system. He also contended that his employer should have paid him his notice period after firing him.

In response, the Radisson said that Mr Sebru was dismissed for gross misconduct as he was caught taking money for himself from the hotel tills and therefore, he wasn’t eligible to be paid for his notice period.

Pictured: The case was heard by the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal.

Mr Sebru admitted he had taken the money, but he asserted that it was cash due to him as tips from customers. 

The Tribunal noted that the employer had held a formal investigative meeting into the matter after Mr Sebru had been captured on security footage removing money from the till. This led to his suspension whilst the investigation continued.

A disciplinary process followed and it was decided that Mr Sebru should be dismissed for gross misconduct. 

In terms of the misconduct allegation, Mr Sebru’s evidence at Tribunal was that: “It was common practice for all staff to take their own cash tips as these were not pooled. His practice was where a customer did not provide a separate cash tip but paid for his meal etc with cash was that the Claimant would put the entire amount of cash into the till and make a mental note as to the amount allocated for a tip. 

“He would then remove cash from the till once his total tips have reached a significant amount (say £20). He would take cash from the till three or four times a day on this basis.  When asked by the Tribunal how he knew exactly how much was ‘owing’ to him throughout the day he said he did not write anything down but simply remembered the running tally of tips due to him.” 

Mr Sebru also claimed that he had not signed the Staff Handbook where it states that cash tips should handed to the employee’s line manager immediately so that it could be pooled. He said that “he was only taken briefly through it by his line manager... who added [Mr Sebru’s] electronic signature” to the document. 

Mr Sebru said “he was unaware of the policy to give tips to his line manager and that he had never been told to do that by anyone.”

As regards the unpaid hours, Mr Sebru said that he would log any extra hours he worked in the manual log rather than inputting them into the electronic payroll system. He claimed that he was instructed specifically “to sign out electronically at the end of a 10-hour shift then record any additional time manually. 

“He said that the reason for this was that the [hotel] did not want too many hours recorded electronically as ‘it would not appear good for the company’ to have too many hours showing. [Mr Sebru] stated that he was also told this by his fellow workers." 

Pictured: The complainant used to work at the Radisson Blu in Jersey.

He said that the total amount of unpaid wages totalled 80 hours’ work. 

Mr Sebru’s former line manager also gave evidence at the Tribunal. Addressing the tipping issue, the manager accepted “it was not formal Company policy to allow the staff to keep cash tips but the widespread practice was that the staff kept their own cash tips.”

As to the unpaid hours issue, the manager told the Tribunal there were often issues with logging hours in the electronic system – either due to it not working or because of staff forgetting to do so. 

He also told the Tribunal in evidence described by the Deputy Chair as “clear” that “he was not aware of any practice of employees deliberately not signing in via the electronic system and completing manual timesheets in relation to any additional hours worked. He further insisted he had never told [Mr Sebru] to avoid using the electronic hand scanner but to log in his additional hours manually instead.”

The Tribunal also heard from other witnesses included a Senior HR Business Partner of the Radisson, the Financial Controller of the Radisson in Jersey and two other staff members involved in the disciplinary process following Mr Sebru’s dismissal. 

Ultimately, the Tribunal's Deputy Chair found against Mr Sebru’s account on every aspect. 

Drawing his findings, Advocate Robertson said that although employees did keep their own cash tips, “there was no authorised practice allowing employees to save their tips in the till and to remove cash form the till from time to time in order to “collect” their tips... The Claimant took and kept monies from the till without authorisation.  There was no evidence of any employee other than the Claimant taking money from the till.”

Finding that the hotel group had grounds to dismiss Mr Sebru because of his gross misconduct and that there was “no evidence” to suggest the former employee had been paid the incorrect wages – the Tribunal dismissed both aspects of the complainant’s claim.