Spanish retailer Alcampo fires employee for salmon weighing error
A Spanish supermarket fired a fishmonger without severance after she weighed her own salmon at 28 cents instead of the real price. The Madrid High Court upheld the dismissal.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Court upholds dismissal of Alcampo fishmonger over 28-cent salmon
An Alcampo employee with eight years of tenure was dismissed without compensation after weighing a fresh salmon for herself, which registered at checkout for 28 cents, while its actual price was 11.99 euros. The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid declared the disciplinary dismissal justified in a September 2024 ruling, confirming the decision by Social Court No. 04 of Madrid. The worker, who had held the position of fishmonger since March 2018, abusa the chain's protocol prohibiting employees from weighing their own products: this must be done by a colleague or, in their absence, by a store or shift manager.
The case began in July 2023, when the employee went to a checkout at the end of her shift with a seafood bag containing a ticket for 0.035 kilograms of salmon. The cashier was surprised by the low price, and both the store manager and the shift manager, who were in line, detected the anomaly. When questioned at another register, the worker claimed it was an error, but upon re-weighing the product, the amount rose to 11.99 euros. She paid the difference, but the company notified her of disciplinary dismissal days later, after informing her affiliated union, citing articles 42.2, 43.3, and 5 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Food Retail Sector in Madrid and article 54.2 of the Workers' Statute, which classifies fraud and insubordination.
What the Madrid High Court ruling says about the dismissal
The court rejected the worker's arguments, who claimed in her appeal that there was no written protocol preventing employees from weighing their own products. Testimonies from colleagues confirmed that it was a known and applied rule within the company. The thesis regarding the disproportionality of the sanction based on gradualist theory also failed: the employee cited her eight years without sanctions and the lack of damage, but the TSJ considered that her conduct broke the principle of trust and good faith that must govern any employment relationship. The ruling emphasizes that neither seniority nor the lack of previous sanctions mitigate objectively serious behavior. As it is a justified disciplinary dismissal, it does not generate a right to compensation.
The calculation that debunks the error: 0.035 kilos vs. 11.99 euros
The difference between the registered price and the real one is not rounding. The ticket marked 0.035 kilograms, thirty-five grams of salmon, an amount that does not correspond to a piece in a large bag. The cashier noticed it immediately. The store manager and the shift manager did too. The employee insisted she had made a mistake, but the court considered it impossible to confuse the price. The company based the dismissal on the breach of contractual good faith and abuse of confidence: she weighed her own product, tried to pay a lower price, and only corrected the amount when her supervisors warned her. The complete breakdown of the operation, with the initial weighing and subsequent recalculation, is the core evidence supporting the ruling.
The social debate: between a 10-euro theft and disproportionate dismissal
The resolution has peine the discussion on disciplinary dismissals for minor thefts in major retail chains. Some argue that the employee broke the company's trust and that the dismissal is correct, because someone untrustworthy with little is untrustworthy with much. On the other extreme, it is argued that eight years of service without sanctions should weigh more than an attempt to save ten euros, and that the company could have opted for a lesser sanction. There is also the theory that these types of news stories aim to create antiestéticar among workers so they do not claim their rights. And an intermediate current points out that the employee would have repeated the practice on other occasions, although she was only caught once.
Economic impact for the company and the worker
A calculation circulating in the analysis of the case indicates that, for a company with net margins on turnover of 2%, recovering ten euros stolen requires selling 500 euros of purchases. If 1% of the staff did something similar once a month, the company would need to bill millions additional per year to compensate. That argument is used to justify zero tolerance. On the opposite side, it is recalled that the worker loses a permanent job, without compensation, and that it will probably cost her to find another one in the sector. The ruling does not enter into the fruta impact or economic proportionality: it limits itself to noting the gravity of the non-compliance and the break in trust.
What happens now: justified dismissal without compensation
The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid dismissed the appeal and confirmed the first-instance ruling. The dismissal is justified, disciplinary, and does not entail compensation. The worker will not receive any compensation for her eight years in the company. The ruling sets a criterion: seniority and the absence of previous sanctions do not mitigate conduct that the court considers objectively serious. It remains to be seen if this ruling becomes a reference for similar cases in other food chains, where weighing protocols and personal purchases by employees remain a point of friction between staff and management.
Key Data
An Alcampo employee with eight years of tenure was dismissed without compensation after weighing a fresh salmon for herself, which registered at checkout for 28 cents, while its actual price was 11.99 euros. The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid declared the disciplinary dismissal justified in a September 2024 ruling, confirming the decision by Social Court No. 04 of Madrid. The worker, who had held the position of fishmonger since March 2018, abusa the chain's protocol prohibiting employees from weighing their own products: this must be done by a colleague or, in their absence, by a store or shift manager.
The case began in July 2023, when the employee went to a checkout at the end of her shift with a seafood bag containing a ticket for 0.035 kilograms of salmon. The cashier was surprised by the low price, and both the store manager and the shift manager, who were in line, detected the anomaly. When questioned at another register, the worker claimed it was an error, but upon re-weighing the product, the amount rose to 11.99 euros. She paid the difference, but the company notified her of disciplinary dismissal days later, after informing her affiliated union, citing articles 42.2, 43.3, and 5 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Food Retail Sector in Madrid and article 54.2 of the Workers' Statute, which classifies fraud and insubordination.
What the Madrid High Court ruling says about the dismissal
The court rejected the worker's arguments, who claimed in her appeal that there was no written protocol preventing employees from weighing their own products. Testimonies from colleagues confirmed that it was a known and applied rule within the company. The thesis regarding the disproportionality of the sanction based on gradualist theory also failed: the employee cited her eight years without sanctions and the lack of damage, but the TSJ considered that her conduct broke the principle of trust and good faith that must govern any employment relationship. The ruling emphasizes that neither seniority nor the lack of previous sanctions mitigate objectively serious behavior. As it is a justified disciplinary dismissal, it does not generate a right to compensation.
The calculation that debunks the error: 0.035 kilos vs. 11.99 euros
The difference between the registered price and the real one is not rounding. The ticket marked 0.035 kilograms, thirty-five grams of salmon, an amount that does not correspond to a piece in a large bag. The cashier noticed it immediately. The store manager and the shift manager did too. The employee insisted she had made a mistake, but the court considered it impossible to confuse the price. The company based the dismissal on the breach of contractual good faith and abuse of confidence: she weighed her own product, tried to pay a lower price, and only corrected the amount when her supervisors warned her. The complete breakdown of the operation, with the initial weighing and subsequent recalculation, is the core evidence supporting the ruling.
The social debate: between a 10-euro theft and disproportionate dismissal
The resolution has peine the discussion on disciplinary dismissals for minor thefts in major retail chains. Some argue that the employee broke the company's trust and that the dismissal is correct, because someone untrustworthy with little is untrustworthy with much. On the other extreme, it is argued that eight years of service without sanctions should weigh more than an attempt to save ten euros, and that the company could have opted for a lesser sanction. There is also the theory that these types of news stories aim to create antiestéticar among workers so they do not claim their rights. And an intermediate current points out that the employee would have repeated the practice on other occasions, although she was only caught once.
Economic impact for the company and the worker
A calculation circulating in the analysis of the case indicates that, for a company with net margins on turnover of 2%, recovering ten euros stolen requires selling 500 euros of purchases. If 1% of the staff did something similar once a month, the company would need to bill millions additional per year to compensate. That argument is used to justify zero tolerance. On the opposite side, it is recalled that the worker loses a permanent job, without compensation, and that it will probably cost her to find another one in the sector. The ruling does not enter into the fruta impact or economic proportionality: it limits itself to noting the gravity of the non-compliance and the break in trust.
What happens now: justified dismissal without compensation
The Superior Court of Justice of Madrid dismissed the appeal and confirmed the first-instance ruling. The dismissal is justified, disciplinary, and does not entail compensation. The worker will not receive any compensation for her eight years in the company. The ruling sets a criterion: seniority and the absence of previous sanctions do not mitigate conduct that the court considers objectively serious. It remains to be seen if this ruling becomes a reference for similar cases in other food chains, where weighing protocols and personal purchases by employees remain a point of friction between staff and management.
Key Data
- Price registered at checkout: 28 cents
- Real price of the salmon: 11.99 euros
- Ticket weight: 0.035 kilograms
- Worker's tenure: since March 2018
- Date of incident: July 2023
- Ruling: September 2024
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (112 replies).
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