Tesco worker fired for taking food 40 minutes before it became free loses appeal

Gordon Deegan

The Irish arm of UK retail giant, Tesco, fired three employees from a Tesco Extra outlet in Naas over a scheme where certain baked items were given for free to a staff member after a daily cut-off.

One of the three staff members dismissed from the Co Kildare store, Mohammed Kamruzzaman, has now failed in his unfair dismissal action against Tesco Ireland Ltd trading as Tesco Extra - Naas.

Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) Adjudicator, David James Murphy dismissed the ex-Tesco worker's claim after finding that Kamruzzaman’s dismissal was based on a company policy that was within the band of reasonableness.

Murphy said that Tesco Ireland’s actions “point to a strict and consistent approach in treating even minor theft as a gross misconduct warranting dismissal”.

Kamruzzaman was employed by Tesco Ireland from February 9th 2024 until his dismissal on July 15th 2025.

Tesco Ireland has a policy whereby certain baked goods and produce can be taken to the till and bought for free by their staff after 9pm each day.

On May 7th 2025, Kamruzzaman finished his shift around 8.20pm and picked up some items.

When he went to pay, the cashier put the transaction as a “stored transaction” with the intention of finalising it after 9pm, which meant Kamruzzaman could leave for his bus and had the benefit of certain items as free before the 9pm window.

Tesco Ireland’s loss prevention team picked this up a few weeks later, and, arising from an investigation, Kamruzzaman, the cashier and one other employee were dismissed.

At the WRC hearing, Kamruzzaman said that he worked for Tesco Ireland honestly and this was an unfortunate lapse on his part, which he apologises for.

He admitted and apologised for his actions from the outset and said that these were ultimately items that would be going in the bin and the practice of taking some items after 8pm was more widespread than Tesco Ireland acknowledges.

As such, Kamruzzaman did not think it reasonable to consider his actions on the same level of theft and submitted that the outcome of dismissal was disproportionate.

He contended that a warning would be a more reasonable outcome, and on a human level, dismissal for this offence was wrong.

Tesco Manager overseeing the store location and a wider region, Cian O'Sullivan, told the hearing that though Kamruzzaman had apologised, he did not believe there could be a second chance for theft.

In his findings, Mr Murphy stated that the items concerned were of low value and would have been free to Mr Kamruzzaman about 40 minutes after having taken them.

He said that Kamruzzaman admitted to and apologised for his actions.

Murphy said that Kamruzzaman’s conduct was considered theft by Tesco Ireland.

He said that as Kamruzzaman took goods without paying for them, it was reasonably open to Tesco Ireland to define his misconduct in those terms.

Murphy said that Kamruzzaman did raise allegations that this practice was more widespread, but he has failed to establish that this was the case.

Murphy said that Kamruzzaman’s colleagues, who were also found to be engaged in circumventing the 9pm time cut-off for a good becoming free, were also dismissed.

Murphy said that Cian O’Sullivan gave convincing evidence of a consistent approach to any type of theft, in that in his experience theft had always resulted in dismissal.