A DISTILLERY manager dismissed less than two weeks into his job has won his breach-of-contract claim after a tribunal found his employer had not shown he committed gross misconduct.
In a recently published judgment, the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal ordered Sea Level Eco Distillery to pay former employee Wesley Rostron £1,308 for the two weeks’ notice he should have received.
Mr Rostron worked for the Gorey-based gin business between 7 and 18 January 2025, mainly at its retail shop. His employment ended after a disagreement over whether he had properly locked the premises on 17 January.
The company said he failed to secure the shop’s door and that this amounted to gross misconduct, which they said justified dismissal without notice.
Mr Rostron argued he had “checked it three times before leaving” and did not know how any problem with the lock “may have occurred”.
The Tribunal found both Mr Rostron and manager Sarah Gaudion gave consistent accounts and that neither was “intentionally seeking to deceive”.
It concluded the company had not proved, on the balance of probabilities, that the top lock had been left unsecured.
The judgment noted other possible explanations had not been ruled out and said that the shop’s alarm and CCTV systems were not operating at the time.
Tribunal Deputy Chair Hannah Westmacott also considered whether mistakenly failing to lock one of the two locks would meet the threshold for gross misconduct.
She found no evidence of deliberate or reckless behaviour and said the conduct was “not repeated” and not “inexcusable” and therefore did not reach the threshold.
As Mr Rostron had not worked at the company long enough to bring an unfair-dismissal claim, the Tribunal considered only whether he had actually committed gross misconduct.
It ruled he had not and found the employer breached the contract by failing to give notice.
The Tribunal accepted evidence that Mr Rostron tried but was unable to secure alternative work during what would have been his notice period. He was therefore awarded the full two weeks’ pay.
