BMW worker who ‘disappeared’ to get food from Burger King during his break wins £16,000 payout 

A BMW assembly worker has won £16,000 after being sacked for going to Burger King for some lunch, an employment tribunal ruled.

Ryan Parkinson ‘disappeared’ for about an hour during an overtime shift at a BMW factory in Oxford before returning with food from the restaurant.

On his return, he was reprimanded for not telling anyone and was subject to a disciplinary investigation.

However, Mr Parkinson disputed this and claimed he had told bosses he was taking a break.

In June 2018, Mr Parkinson’s supervisor submitted a report claiming he was ‘missing off site’ during a Sunday night overtime shift.

According to the reported submitted by his supervisor, Mr Parker was noted to be missing at 19.50, before returning at around 20.45 with food from Burger King. 

The report asserted that he had not asked for permission or had noted anyone in his team that he was leaving.

The supervisor alleged in the report that he searched the restrooms and smoking areas to ensure he was not in the building in case of a fire alarm. 

After being confronted, the supervisor noted that Ryan ‘was upset’ and ‘decided he did not wish to be here anymore’ and went home at 21.45.

Three days after the incident, Mr Parkinson was quizzed by bosses and said the assembly team had finished a particular job and so began discussing food.

He said: ‘Everyone wanted a kebab, and I said I wanted a Burger King. My [co-workers] were talking about what they were going to get.

‘I said I’m going to get a Burger King. I got on a scooter thing and went and got a Burger King and sat in my car until half past.

‘I rang [a colleague] at 20.23 and 20.28 to ask what was going on. He replied that they made us work through break as the kebab had not come yet. 

Mr Parker said that after telephone call with his colleague, he picked up what he had left from the Burger King and came inside to look for everyone.

‘At say 8.38 [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.

‘He said I should have notified someone, and I said I did. I went back to work and left after an hour, but I was not happy as another guy had gone missing for over an hour, and no one went looking for him,’ he is reported to have said. 

On August 23, Mr Parkinson was signed off work with stress at work and anxiety until February 2019.

A disciplinary hearing took place in May 2019, and he was sacked, but after appealing this it was replaced with a final written warning as firing him was ‘quite harsh’.

However, upon returning to work he was immediately suspended for a fresh allegation of leaving site without permission.

He submitted a grievance, complaining suspension was a ‘knee jerk and heavy-handed reaction’ and ‘vindictive and baseless’.

In November, he was sacked for a second time by the agency he was employed by for gross misconduct for leaving the site again without permission, and he brought his employers to tribunal.

The tribunal ordered his employers pay him £16,916 in compensation and unpaid wages.

The Reading tribunal heard Mr Parkinson had worked for GI Group, a recruitment agency, since January 2014.

Mr Parkinson has also alleged that in a manager at BMW had assaulted him in October 2017 , the tribunal heard.

Mr Parkinson said: ‘I got punched in my chest by my manager because I put in a grievance about the woman [for] racial discrimination because she just started working at BMW, and started making my life a misery by always looking for ways to get me into trouble.’

However, his grievances were dismissed, the hearing was told.

Mr Parkinson, who is black and of African heritage, also claimed direct race discrimination, race-related harassment and victimisation – but these elements of his case were dismissed.

During the time they found him work he claimed that a female worker at BMW – which was a client of GI Group – racially discriminate against him as she ‘has got problems with black people’.

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.

‘Leaving a secure area through a turnstile for a few minutes to visit a car in the company car park when, it seems, that many other employees did exactly the same, though not investigated by [GI Group], did not amount to gross misconduct.

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

All his other claims were dismissed, with the tribunal concluding there was ‘no evidence whatsoever’ of racism.