Wetherspoons worker investigated after using staff discount on family meal gets £25,000 payout
A JD Wetherspoon employee has been awarded more than £25,000 in compensation after she was reprimanded and investigated for using her staff discount to pay for meals with her family.
Brandon Halstead, a kitchen worker at The Albany Place in Trowbridge, was investigated by his bosses and summoned to a gross misconduct hearing after he used his staff discount to pay for meals for seven people, including himself, without realizing the pub chain’s policy only applied to parties of four or fewer people.
Mr Halstead, who is autistic, had to take sick leave for anxiety following the reprimand, which he said left him in “extreme distress” and feeling “persecuted and frustrated”.
Mr Halstead took his bosses to the employment tribunal after his mother complained that she was “faced with appalling treatment without any adjustments to her situation”.
The court found Wetherspoons failed to make reasonable adjustments for Mr Halstead’s disability throughout the investigation. Another claim by Mr. Halstead for disability-related harassment was also dismissed.
In August 2023, Mr. Halstead went to eat at one of the chain’s bars with his mother and five visiting family members. Saved £19.17 using employee discount.
Five days later, Mr Halstead was summoned to a meeting with his shift manager and told that he was being investigated for violating the staff discount policy. She also told her manager that her mother had access to the Wetherspoons app to look up route timetables, which her manager said was a “breach of data security policy”.
During the meeting, Mr. Halstead apologized and claimed he was unaware the discount was only valid for four people. He also told his mother that he would make her delete the app immediately, which she did.
After the meeting, Mr. Halstead told his manager that he was autistic and asked his mother to attend formal meetings with him.
In a second investigation, carried out just over a week later, Mr Halstead and his mother explained that his autism meant his son had to access his phone app to plan bus times and departures.
Mr Halstead was subsequently required to attend a disciplinary hearing for gross misconduct and was charged with fraud, abusing his discount and failing to comply with Wetherspoon’s data policy.
The court heard his manager’s behavior led to him taking sick leave from work due to “significant stress and anxiety”, which meant he was unable to leave his bedroom.
Mr. Halstead’s mother requested a compensatory gesture when discussing his return to work, but the request was denied.
Wetherspoons was ordered to pay Mr Halstead £3,520 for financial loss, £18,500 for hurt feelings, plus 8% interest on the sum of £3,392.
In the court’s decision, employment judge Murdoch wrote: “The plaintiff readily admitted that he had violated the rules of the discount policy because he was unaware of the rules. A typical feature of autism is a strong desire to comply with the rules.”
“The plaintiff immediately stated that he was sorry and that this would not happen again because he understood what the rules were.”
JD Wetherspoon declined to comment.
