A bacon sandwich: It's one of life's most treasured dishes. It also happens to be the reason one flight attendant was fired from her job with easyJet.
The airline, presumably not having anything better to do, fired a flight attendant when she was found to have consumed a £4.50 bacon sandwich, a meal given to her by a manager.
The Sun reports on the matter that was just settled out of court, but not before the matter had been heard by the Cambridge Magistrates' Court earlier this month. According to the publication, Shannon Gleeson, an employee with three years of service under her belt, had accepted a bacon sandwich from her manager during her first trip abroad.
The meal came after Gleeson was unable to find suitable sustenance aboard the flight due to her peanut allergy.
The report explains, "A fellow crew member told the company she had seen Ms Gleeson and the cabin manager eating a bacon baguette and croque monsieur, meant for customers, in the galley."
The fact that a colleague decided to dish on their fellow coworker isn't the most astounding part of this story.
A sandwich that cost about $5 has now seen the airline try their side of things in court and then subsequently settle with Gleeson who -- along with her manager at the time -- was fired for eating a sandwich because she had not asked for a receipt for the meal.
The event in question took place on January 3, 2015. Two years later, on January 10, the matter finally came before employment Judge Michael Ord.
Judge Ord states the following after easyJet could not show that any items were actually missing from its stock of food: "Ms. Gleeson ate a bacon baguette and she had not paid for it. That is the extent of the mistake. If I rang my insurance company and told them my Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow had been stolen they would want to see proof that I owned it. You have actually got to show some loss for there to be a theft. I see no evidence that anything was paid for or not paid for."
The person who actually fired Gleeson is Ross Fraser, and he explained to the judge that there is no specific easyJet policy that food cannot be consumed in this manner, but that, "the expectation is there."
Fraser continued, unaware that this entire debacle had reached unbelievable heights, "There is regular communication to all of the cabin crew."
If you are rolling your eyes already, this is what Fraser had to say when the judge asked how he would react if a colleague had simply brought him some tea without a receipt: "I would have refused it [the tea]."
EasyJet's Paul Hinton called Gleeson an "accomplice" in what certainly seems like an innocuous event-or, at the very least, a momentary lapse in judgment from Gleeson's in-flight manager.
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Despite an apology and an offer to make the situation right from Gleeson, Hinton states: "I feel that [offering to pay afterward] was very much a case of closing the barn door after the horse had bolted. I think there was an element of choice. There was an element of knowing the rules were not being followed. I believe Shannon was an accomplice in it. There was, in my opinion, no way that she didn't know that the item was being consumed without the proper authorization. Just because the paperwork didn't show it doesn't mean that it hasn't been stolen. It didn't need to be checked in my opinion. The fact that two revenue items had been heated and consumed was enough."
Remember, this is also a case of an employee attempting to quell hunger while also trying to steer clear of any food that might exacerbate her allergy to peanuts. One would think an employer would welcome a manager that offered an in-flight solution in this manner.
Judge Ord, perhaps trying to infuse some common sense into the proceedings, continued: "She didn't take it from the trolley. She wasn't responsible for ensuring it was paid for. She accepted what had happened throughout and was open and honest. She apologized straight away and she has got three years unblemished, praiseworthy in fact, service. What further mediation factors would you have needed to come into play that would avoid dismissal?"
Hinton remained steadfast: "In my 12 years of flying it is very unusual for a crew member to receive an item of revenue (passenger food). It would have raised alarm bells, especially with a crew member of three years' experience. That was the reason behind my decision."
To recap, the airline, or the managers tasked with fielding the initial accusations that Gleeson and her in-flight manager had eaten without garnering a receipt, decided that the matter necessitated firing members of its staff rather than, perhaps, admonishing them or reeducating them on a policy that isn't even on the company's books.
That heavy-handed approach has led to what we have to presume was an expensive legal process and a settlement that very well may have benefited Ms. Gleeson nicely considering the tone taken by Judge Ord.
The airline, for its part, states: "easyJet has settled this matter with Ms Gleeson and so cannot comment in any further detail other than to say that we have clear and well-understood policies and the honesty of our employees is really important."
To think, this all came about thanks to a bacon sandwich, a delicacy that has otherwise come to represent all that is wonderful and delicious in the world.
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