Sacked worker settles with Linfox

SETTLED: A worker who was 'caught short' in a supermarket and accused of shoplifting has settled with his employer, but may pursue a separate action.PHOTO/FILE

Linfox has settled with sacked worker Hilton Delegat who was accused of intending to steal from a company client, Carterton New World.

Mr Delegat's lawyer, Jills Angus Burney, said he may now take action against the supermarket, which had since trespassed him.

Mr Delegat, from Eketahuna, had been working for the logistics and supply chain company for 15 years and was fired on December 5. His employers felt he had misled them about being ill and thought he intended to shoplift from the Carterton store.

He lodged a personal grievance with the Employment Relations Authority for unfair dismissal and was seeking reinstatement and compensation.

A two-day Employment Relations Authority hearing in Masterton and Wellington included evidence from Mr Delegat about the strain the ordeal had put on him, resulting in visits to doctors and counsellors.

On day one of the hearing, evidence was given that Mr Delegat rang in sick on November 25 after waking with diarrhoea and vomiting. He had eaten crayfish the night before at his parents' Featherston home and had "over-indulged".

On his way home to Eketahuna he stopped at Carterton New World to buy bread for his pigs. He was "caught short" and needed to go to the toilet.

He had picked up a bottle of weed killer, before walking through the store's trolley barriers, which he took into the toilet with him, putting it in his pocket while he used the toilet.

Returning to the main part of the store, Mr Delegat decided he didn't need the weed killer and put it on a shelf alongside chocolates.

A staff member, observing his behaviour, never saw him put the product on the shelf and notified his employer about a possible shoplifter in the store.

Mr Delegat paid for the bread and left the store.

Authority member Greg Wood was set to issue his decision last week but Linfox and Mr Delegat agreed to a settlement, the details of which are confidential, Ms Burney said.

She said Mr Delegat had not been reinstated and was considering taking legal action against Carterton New World. "As far as the supermarket goes there is a possibility of further legal action to protect his reputation, given that the supermarket, eight weeks after they found that there was no theft, still issued a trespass order which my client considers unfair and unwarranted."