Mercadona worker sacked for eating a croquette bound for the bin wins court appeal

A judge ruled the dismissal as unfair and ordered the Spanish supermarket giant to reinstate the employee or compensate him with nearly 40,000 euros

Susana Zamora

Madrid

Tuesday, 19 November 2024, 15:04

A worker sacked from a Mercadona supermarket in a central Spanish town after eating a croquette from a packet that was bound for the trash can was unfair, a court has ruled.

The store in Talavera de la Reina in Toledo had already closed to the public on 8 July about 10pm when the employee, who had been with the company for 16 years, was packing a trolley full of unsold products which had therefore become rubbish. The worker decided to take a croquette from one of the packets and eat one. After being noticed by his colleagues, the worker admitted to a manager that he had eaten the croquette without paying for it. The practice is not allowed, even among products that are to be discarded.

That same day, the worker was dismissed for disciplinary reasons, with the manager classing it a very serious offence, according to the conditions of his contract. He then appealed to the courts, with the high court of Castilla y León ruling the dismissal as unfair. Mercadona has been ordered to reinstate the worker in the same job and with the same conditions, or to compensate him with 39,702 euros.

The judge ruled the worker's conduct was not criminal because, as the agreement states, "the consumption of any product without having previously paid for it implies that such product has a retail price which the worker has not paid", but in this case the croquette consumed has no market value, "not even a small one, since it was destined for waste and could not be sold to the public".

As for the "misappropriation of the company's products intended for waste or promotion", the agreement refers to products in the plural and not to a single product. There was no misappropriation "when there was no legitimate possession of the product" and "much less was there the essential profit motive" as eating one croquette did not damage in any way the company's assets, the court ruled.

According to the judgement, the worker's conduct could be classed as "mere disobedience", but in no way should have been deemed a sackable offence.

Top 50

Reporta un error en esta noticia