UK: Air hostess eats sandwich in flight, sacked for gross misconduct

London: A 22-year-old easyJet air hostess in the UK has been sacked for gross misconduct and theft as she failed to ask for a receipt from the manager in the flight after eating a bacon sandwich costing 4.50 pounds meant for customers.

Shannon Gleeson, ate the baguette because she had a nut allergy and had not been able to find safe food to eat while working abroad, an employment tribunal heard.

But she was sacked from the company for gross misconduct and theft after failing to ask her manager if the food had been paid for, the metro.co.uk reported.

A tribunal at Cambridge Magistrates Court last week was told that Gleeson had breached company policy by not asking for a receipt.

The panel heard she may have been wrongly dismissed because easyJet's policy placed no obligation on the consumer to see a receipt if food was given to them.

"I am not a thief and that was what I was labelled as," Gleeson said.

The matter was settled by the company out of court for an undisclosed sum on January 11 after it was heard there was no way of recording missing stock from a flight.

easyJet launched an investigation following the sandwich incident, which happened on a flight from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on January 3, 2015.

A fellow crew member told the company she had seen Gleeson and the cabin manager eating a bacon baguette and croque monsieur meant for customers in the galley.

Gleeson, who had been employed by the company for three years, was later called in to a meeting about the investigation.

She apologised for the incident and offered to pay the 4.50 pounds fee but was sacked alongside the cabin manager. Introducing the case on January 10, employment Judge

Michael Ord said, "The actual incident is not in dispute. Gleeson ate a bacon baguette and she had not paid for it. That is the extent of the mistake."

He added, "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 hearing was told the Luton-based company had no way of recording missing stock from a flight and that there was no 'black and white' policy in place for food given to staff.