Bar manager wins £10k after she was sacked for checking CCTV over claims of 'spiking'

Daily Record

2 days ago

Sophie Marsh was sacked on the spot for CCTV footage after receiving a report of a suspected spiking incident.
A bar manager has won nearly £10,000 in compensation after she was unfairly sacked for checking CCTV footage for evidence of a "spiking" incident.
Sophie Marsh, from Mauchline in East Ayrshire, worked at S altcoats Labour Club for two years before she was suddenly dismissed on October 11 last year. Bosses sacked the 40-year-old on the spot after claiming she had breached GDPR when she checked the footage at the request of a female customer who suspected her drink had been tampered with during a karaoke night.
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Sophie was dismissed without any investigation or disciplinary action and the case was put before an employment tribunal in Glasgow last month.
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It ruled that Sophie was not afforded the right to an investigation or an opportunity to put her side across before a dismissal decision was made.
She was awarded a total of £9,500 for the unfair and wrongful sacking.
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Speaking of the outcome, Sophie told the Record: "I wasn't checking the CCTV footage for my own leisure, I was checking it to see if criminal activity had taken place within the bar.
"A customer suspected she had been spiked and as bar manager, I had a duty of care to her as my customer.
"In this case, there was no criminality but what if there had been and I was sacked for simply trying to investigate this?"
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During the tribunal, bosses were asked to clarify the data breach they claimed to have occurred, however, neither could provide a clear explanation.
Instead, one of them argued Sophie viewing the CCTV was "like it were a screening of a night out at the club.'
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It further heard that in the months before Sophie was dismissed, several members of the club's committee had been hostile to her after she made a grievance about a committee member.
However, Judge E Mannion ruled that although she had been subjected to a level of enmity after making the report, it was not the sole reason why she was sacked.
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Handing down her findings, Judge Mannion ruled that viewing the CCTV would, at most, be "a breach of an internal policy."
She went on to describe the case as a "wholescale" breach of the Acas Code of Practice - a set of fairness standards that employers are required to follow.
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She said: "While it is appreciated that the respondent is a small organisation, I cannot think of a more egregious breach of the Acas Code of Practice than this case.
"It was a total and wholescale breach. Every aspect of it was departed from."
Sophie said: "Losing my job right before Christmas plunged my life into a period of stress and uncertainty.
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"I already suffer from anxiety so this had a profound impact on my mental health.
"Taking this to tribunal wasn't about money but rather to clear my name.
" Saltcoats is a small town so it is crucial people know the truth.
"Even after the truth coming to light and them being proved to have wrongfully dismissed me, I still haven't received even an apology from any of the people that have put me through this."