Golf club bar manager was unfairly dismissed

A manager of a golf club bar has won an unfair dismissal claim after his bosses said he had falsified weekly bar statements.

The manager was suspended from his job when annual accounts showed a deficit of around £5,300. His bosses claimed that the deficit was due to him making handwritten alterations and deducting the ‘chip and pin’ amount before the total cash was banked.

The manager denied the accusation. He said that he had been told to deduct the chip and pin amount by the treasurer, who signed the statement every week.

He said the real reason he had been dismissed was because the club felt it couldn’t afford a manager because it was in a poor financial state. The club secretary had stated that the club couldn’t afford a bar manager more than a year earlier. However, the secretary told the court that he had only made the point as “one option” to discuss.

The employment tribunal ruled in the manager’s favour because the club bosses didn’t seem to have a clear grasp on what he had actually done wrong.

Employment judge Philip Davies said it was ‘puzzling’ that the treasurer had signed bar statements every week for several months without noticing the issue. He added: “There was not a grasp really by the respondent (the club) of what misconduct had been carried out by the claimant; what was the nature of the wrong doing. There was no full and further investigation.”

Please contact Jackie Cuneen for advice about unfair dismissal claims or any aspect of employment law.