3 days ago
Bar manager wins £10k after she was sacked for checking CCTV over claims of 'spiking'
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.
Sophie was dismissed without any investigation or disciplinary action and the case was put before an employment tribunal in Glasgow last month.
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.
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.'
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.
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.
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.
"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."
