Lidl has sacked a manager at one of its Barcelona stores for working over and above the hours for which he was paid.
It was discovered that on some days he was arriving as early as 5am in order to get the shop open for the arrival of the public. On the letter informing him of his dismissal he was accused of processing orders, changing prices, stacking shelves and loading pallets and in so doing committing the deadly sin of starting work before the designated time.
The German Supermarket chain cites “serious breaches of contract” having produced video evidence of the manager working the extra hours. It was stated that he arrived at the supermarket a 5am and would often spend “between 49 and 87 minutes” working before clocking in.
They said that the manager was often alone in the store, something that the company don’t allow for reasons of security.
The letter explained that he was also infringing the company policy which stated that employees should be paid for every minute worked.
Lidl also said that they had received complaints from a number of members of the shop staff who had said that he often suggested that they too should arrive early to work.
The manager has worked for Lidl for 12 years, since 2005, and believed that his dismissal is unfair as a result of which he is making a legal claim requiring that he be re-employed.
He added that he had never asked members of staff to turn up early for work, they were simply throw away comments. He also stated that the supermarket hierarchy had never suggested that he shouldn’t turn up early for work with his lawyer Juan Guerra, making the point that if his client broke any rules, it was purely to the advantage of the company.
He added that following restructuring “Company Directors put him under pressure to reach new sales targets which in order to achieve it was necessary to work outside opening hours.”
