A man who was fired from his job for eating a jam tart has failed to have his dismissal declared unfair.

The Employment Appeals Tribunal has ruled that Keelings Logistics Solutions, St Margaret’s, Co Dublin, had conducted an objective investigation and had ruled the dismissal of Elton John Moran to be “fair and proportionate”.

The tribunal hearing, which concluded in September, was told that Mr Moran was an operative in a warehouse which was constantly monitored. On January 25th, 2012, a security guard saw Mr Moran and another operative standing in front of an open container cage and he saw the cage being moved.

When the men stepped away, he could see that they were eating something.

On investigation, it became apparent that a box containing jam tarts had been tampered with and two tarts were missing from a packet.

Mr Moran told the tribunal that he was aware that he was not allowed to eat food while working but he had done so so many times.

Following an investigation, the company concluded that it was reasonable to conclude that Mr Moran had tampered with a packet of jam tarts. The product was rendered unsellable and had to be disposed of. This constituted gross misconduct and he was dismissed.

The decision was upheld on appeal on appeal in May 2012.