NASSAU-The longest serving employee at Battery and Tyre Specialists has been awarded $33,020 after winning a case for wrongful dismissal.
Ms Hall, an accounts supervisor, had worked at the company for 27 years when her bosses fired her without warning on April 4, 2018.
Ms. Hall’s bosses alleged that she negligently failed to detect the theft of over $400,000 that her supervisors and the company’s external accountant had missed.
Prior to Ms. Hall’s dismissal the company fired cashiers Alice Murphy, Anthonique Bowleg and Shalecia Bannister after accusing them of the theft over a two-year period. They are still awaiting trial.
Carl McCartney, the company’s inventory manager, reported the matter to police when he allegedly found discrepancies in sales returns. He allegedly saw the cashiers pocketing money after viewing surveillance footage.
By contrast, Ms. Hall did not have access to the surveillance footage.
Ms. Hall was on vacation when Battery and Tyre Specialists fired the cashiers for the alleged theft.
Then, the company fired her without notice, one day after she returned from vacation.
As a result, she filed a trade dispute against Battery and Tyre Specialists alleging wrongful dismissal.
No Knowledge
Ms. Hall’s lawyer Bjorn Ferguson argued before the industrial tribunal that she had no knowledge of the fraud or theft.
In fact, he said Desiree McCartney, the company’s vice president and manager of accounts, had responsibility for overseeing the cashiers, as their direct supervisor, and had also failed to detect the fraud.
In response, Cathleen Johnson-Hassan claimed that Ms. Hall supervised the cashiers. She asserted Ms. Hall should have detected the fraud since it happened while she was at work.
She argued that Ms. Hall’s behavior was suspicious because she said nothing about the absence of the fired cashiers, whom she had a close relationship with, when she returned to work. And when told about the alleged fraud, she wondered what they did with the money.
The tribunal found that Ms. Hall did not supervise the cashiers. Additionally, Ms. Hall did not authorise refunds or returns.
The tribunal found was no evidence that the company reasonably believed that Ms. Hall committed gross negligence, or knew about the fraud. Additionally, the Tribunal determined that the company had failed to conduct a reasonable investigation to support its belief.
Lastly, the tribunal found that Ms. Hall’s friendliness with the fired cashiers was not evidence that she knew about the alleged theft.
