BMW Worker Sacked After Going To Burger King During Lunch Break

During an overtime shift at a BMW factory in Oxford, Ryan Parkinson stopped by the fast food joint for nearly an hour.

When he returned, his superiors criticized him for not informing them that he had taken a lunch break, despite Parkinson's assurance that he had.

Parkinson was fired from GI Group, a staffing company that places workers on temporary contracts, but was later resumed after an appeal.

However, Parkinson was successful in his lawsuit against GI Group for unfair dismissal after he was sacked a second time for leaving the industrial site without informing the supervisors.

Parkinson was initially fired on June 17, 2018, at 7:50 p.m., when a manager claimed he "disappeared" during a Sunday overtime shift.

According to his superiors, Parkinson returned to work at 8:45 p.m. after failing to notify anybody that he was taking a break.

The manager confronted Parkinson and claimed that at 9:45 he left the office looking "upset" and declaring he "did not wish to be here anymore."

Parkinson was questioned by manufacturing managers three days later and responded as follows: ‘We finished the cell at around 19.50, we were saying what we doing about food.'

‘Everyone wanted a kebab and I said I wanted a Burger King.’

At say, 8.38 pm (my supervisor) asked where I had been, and he had been looking for me. I said that I went on my break and went to get Burger King,’ Parkinson is reported to have said.

Parkinson was excused from work on August 23 due to stress and anxiety until February 2019.

After a disciplinary hearing in May 2019 for the Burger King trip, he was fired, but after he appealed in June, he was reinstated and given a written warning.

On November 25, 2019, Parkinson was fired once more for gross misconduct after abandoning the site yet again.

In his complaint for unfair dismissal against GI Group, Parkinson claimed that the two additional trips were made only to pick up sandwiches.

The tribunal determined that although there had been some uncertainty regarding whether Parkinson had been present throughout his break, this had not been "reasonably" checked into.

Employment Judge Stephen Vowles said: ‘(GI Group) failed to investigate the assertions by (Mr. Parkinson) and his trade union representatives that this was a widespread practice done during break times by dozens of other employees.’

‘There was no evidence of any procedure in place by (GI Group) for obtaining permission to exit the site or to notify a supervisor of exiting the site or the recording of any such permission or notification.’

Judge Vowles pointed out that no other employees who had lunch were under investigation.

‘He left his place of work to visit his car to collect his sandwiches during a break,’ he added.