28 December 2023 , 10:36
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A Southern Co-op employee who used his staff discount on elderly customers amid the cost-of-living crisis has been fired.
John Burley, 64, was found to have deliberately abused his staff discount card at the supermarket, a corporate member of The Co-operative Group, in Eastleigh, Hampshire. Supermarket bosses said they had to "reluctantly" dismiss the employee after they conducted a thorough investigation into his conduct.
John, from Eastleigh, says he had helped the needy, including a war veteran, by giving them discounts on their groceries. John lost his job just before Christmas.
John, who had been working at the supermarket since May, claimed he was never told it was against company policy and would have "stopped straight away" had he been given a verbal warning.
He was asked to stay behind by his store manager last month and was quizzed about the use of his discount card - which offers employees 30 per cent off Co-op branded products and 10 per cent off everything else.
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The supermarket, a corporate member of The Co-operative Group, is in Hampshire (Daily Echo/Solent News)"I just wanted to do something nice for the veteran. It was my way to honour him, but I had no idea what I was doing was against the company's policy. I was shocked because at no given moment was I told by anybody that what I did was wrong," John told Daily ECHO.
A week after the disciplinary was launched, the decision was made by the temporary manager to dismiss him. John appealed this, but the original decision was upheld, meaning he was dismissed for gross misconduct with immediate effect and without notice or pay.
John added: "I just want to know why no one came to me and said that what I was doing was wrong. I was only on a part-time contract but any time they needed me to cover someone's shift, I would always help."
A spokesperson for Southern Co-Op told the Mirror: "After a thorough investigation, we reluctantly had to dismiss an employee for deliberate abuse of his staff discount card. The policy around the use of colleague discounts is communicated clearly at the point of signing up for the scheme. We expect colleagues to respect the rules and our policy clearly states that a serious breach of the rules can be taken as an act of gross misconduct which can lead to dismissal."