A phone shop worker who used his staff discount to purchase thousands of pounds worth of electronics has lost a claim of unfair dismissal following a tribunal.

Salim Bux worked at the EE store in Blackburn and had been an employee at the store for nearly 23 years, after initially starting out at BT before the name transitioned shortly before the end of his tenure.

Bux complained of unfair dismissal in December 2022 following his exit from the company for gross misconduct earlier that month.

The tribunal, heard in Manchester, heard evidence from Bux as well at team leader Lisa Nield, operations manager Steven Smithson, and another operations manager, Marie Rawlinson.

Bux was first alerted to a potential disciplinary issue in September 2022 when his line manager, Wahida Patel, and Ms Nield were contacted by Alex Dawson in the BT Shop team.

The BT Shop is a website where people can buy products including high-value electronics, such as mobile phones and games consoles.

Ms Dawson said she suspected two advisers were exploiting the system on the BT Shop and she highlighted 35 orders made between December 2021 and October 2022 she believed were suspicious.

A spreadsheet collated by Ms Dawson showed 35 orders had been made by Bux and three of his colleagues for PlayStation 5 consoles and mobile phones.

The delivery address and delivery name appeared on the orders in different ways, with some orders linked to a business, Almaalik Ltd, or the name Mohammed Bux (or versions of it), rather than the name of the employee making the order.

Employee discounts had been applied to all but two of these orders, and on some orders a further discount code, entitling the user to a 10 per cent discount, had been applied as well as the employee discount.

Multiple orders of the Samsung Galaxy Z flip 4 phone and Google Pixel mobile phone had been made by the claimant, who enjoyed a large employee discount (£416.66 and £166.66 respectively per phone). Some of these orders had been cancelled by the BT Shop.

Ms Nield and Ms Patel conducted a formal investigation and eventually suspended Bux with pay, recommending he face disciplinary action for alleged gross misconduct.

Bux said he never had any bad intentions and he never had an email to say what he can and cannot do.

He added he had been at the business for a long time and was a trusted colleague and friend, and the only thing he got in excess was the PlayStation 5, a discount of just over £100.

Having been dismissed from his role, Bux appealed against the decision on December 13, 2022, saying his dismissal was unfair and unreasonable.

Employment Judge McCarthy, giving their conclusion, said: “I find the mitigation the claimant presented, including but not limited to, his length of service and clean record and personal circumstances were carefully considered by Mr Smithson and Ms Rawlinson before making their decisions to dismiss the claimant and uphold the decision to dismiss.

“I find that notwithstanding the claimant’s mitigation, the respondent’s decision to summarily dismiss the claimant was still within the band on reasonable responses.

“I am therefore satisfied that this was a fair dismissal and the claim of unfair dismissal is dismissed.”