Suspended cake-biting worker awarded $500

A New World supermarket worker who ate part of a cake from the supermarket rubbish bin was not unjustifiably dismissed the ERA has found. Photo / Glenn Taylor

A supermarket worker who took a bite of a cake from "the pig bin'' and then resigned and claimed unjustified dismissal after a disciplinary meeting has been awarded $500.

Wanja Robert Mutze claimed his resignation constituted unjustifiable dismissal at the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).

He also claimed he was unjustifiably disadvantaged when he was suspended from his employment and made to attend three investigation meetings during the disciplinary process.

Mr Mutze started working at the New World supermarket in Lincoln in March 2011 as its produce manager but in July that year he took two weeks off work due to post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from the Canterbury earthquakes.

The authority was told that on June 2, 2012, during his morning tea break, Mr Mutze took a cake in sealed packaging out of a refuse bin in the supermarket yard known as "the pig bin''.

He then unwrapped the cake and took a bite of it, offering it to other staff members who laughed.

Later that week he was called to a meeting to face allegations of taking and consuming products without authorisation.

The owner of the supermarket, Kyle Burnett, told the authority that at the meeting he questioned Mr Mutze about previous instances of him marking down products, taking home a broken office chair and asking to use the carpet cleaner for an extra day because he had wanted to see whether eating the cake from the waste bin had been evidence of a pattern of behaviour of wanting free or cheap goods.

The authority also heard the supermarket had a policy that unauthorised possession of company property including scrap, waste and damaged items was cause for instant dismissal.

Mr Mutze told the authority he wanted to continue working in the supermarket industry and wanted to avoid having the dismissal on his employment record.

Notes from the meeting recorded Mr Mutze as saying "I want to avoid it to go on my record. Willing to make a deal with Kyle. Deal it won't go further and I will resign.''

He later tended his resignation.

The authority found Mr Mutze was not unjustifiably dismissed, but found he suffered an unjustifiable disadvantage during a period of suspension, for which he was awarded $500.