'Rude' shop worker loses dismissal case

11:18am Thursday 28th February 2008

A shop worker accused of calling an Asda customer "stupid" has lost her claim for unfair dismissal.

Ann Graham, 62, was working as an in-store sampler at the store in Eastbourne when managers accused her of being rude.

She denied the claims but her employer, field marketing firm CMP, dismissed her after Asda refused to allow Mrs Graham to return to the store and no alternative work could be found.

At an employment tribunal in Brighton yesterday, Mrs Graham said the customer had demanded to pay £2.98 for a £50 wicker picnic basket full of wine, plates and glasses which she had set up to promote a halfprice wine deal.

He had become irate when she explained the £2.98 sign on the basket referred to the wine on special offer and demanded to see a manager.

Asda store manager Martyn Gallon wrote to CMP the next day to say he did not want Mrs Graham to return to the store.

Although he had not investigated the incident or questioned her about it, he said Mrs Graham was guilty of "gross misconduct" and would have been sacked if she had been an Asda employee.

He said she was guilty of both rudeness and leaving her display unattended with a misleading price label, and said he had previously received other complaints about Mrs Graham.

Jill Blow, CMP's regional business manager, suspended Mrs Graham on full pay and started an investigation into the claims. She decided there was insufficient evidence to support the allegations and the row had been a "misunderstanding".

She contacted Asda on a number of occasions to ask them to reconsider their decision but the company refused.

CMP tried to find Mrs Graham alternative work but as the firm had no other accounts in the Eastbourne area and Mrs Graham did not want to travel, her contract was terminated.

Mrs Graham argued Asda had not investigated the complaint properly. She referred to discrepancies in three statements given by a colleague. The first claimed Mrs Graham had called the customer "stupid", the second that she had said "silly" but in the third she admitted she had not heard her say anything at all.

After a one-day hearing the tribunal decided it was fair that CMP UK Ltd had dismissed Mrs Graham because the firm was subject to "third party pressure"

from Asda.

Chairman Stephen Vowles said: "They were stuck with Asda's decision."

He said CMP had taken reasonable steps to investigate the claim, though it was not legally duty-bound to establish the truth of the allegations.

He added: "In reality the complainant's grievance is against Asda."

Mrs Graham said she had wanted to make her claim against Asda but was unable to because she was not technically employed by the firm.

She said: "It is unfair because the commercial agreement between CMP and Asda means that I am denied the right to challenge Asda in the way I could if I was an Asda employee."

She said she has lost thousands of pounds from her pension fund because she was forced to start drawing it when she lost her job.

She had planned to defer it for another 18 months until her husband retired.

Mrs Graham now works for another field marketing company as an in-store sampler at Sainsbury's in Eastbourne.