In the motor industry it is a fairly common perk of the job, particularly within garages and the repairs side of the industry, that employees can discount parts and/or labour for themselves and sometimes friends and family. A perk or benefit like this is a good mutual arrangement for employees and employers. The employee enjoys the benefit of a decent discount and the employer will receive business and the potential for return customers where jobs are done well. However, it is a benefit which does have the potential to be abused by employees on occasion. In the motor industry this tends to happen by employees pocketing money for jobs from friends and family, offering discounts which are above what they are authorised to give, or by not logging jobs/ parts for themselves. When you as the employer come across a potential abuse issue, it is important not to jump to conclusions and to undertake a reasonable investigation alongside giving a reasonable sanction should one be required. An Employment Tribunal judgment handed down in August 2025 raised similar factual issues, but in the context of a manager at a JD Wetherspoons pub giving staff discounts to other employees. Mr Paul Castagna-Davies was dismissed by Wetherspoons for gross incompetence or gross negligence after he applied a 50% discount to an employee who ordered food to take home after his shift (policy dictated this should only be a 20% as the food was being taken home). Wetherspoons had found the discrepancy after their till/ accounts system had alerted management to a potential issue. Mr Castagna-Davies admitted he may have mistakenly “pressed the wrong button” applying a 50% rather than 20% discount and he was promptly dismissed without notice. He had a clean disciplinary record and had been working at the pub since 2002. The Tribunal found that it was not reasonable to dismiss in the circumstances and particularly without notice as the employee’s actions were not intentional or deliberate and were also not ‘gross’ negligence as opposed to simple/ normal negligence. As the Judge put it “this was one incident on one shift that he could have managed better. He was an employee with long service and a clear disciplinary record.” In Conclusion Even where there looks to have been a clear contravention of a discount benefit, or for that matter any benefit, you need to conduct a thorough investigation. That might include analysing the financial records like till balances, having an investigation interview with the employee concerned, and speaking to colleagues to find out the surrounding circumstances. The other vital lesson to take from the Wetherspoons case is that the sanction needs to be reasonable within the context of what was found to have occurred. The key question you need to ask it, would another reasonable employer consider dismissing the employee/ giving the employee a final written warning if they had found the same misconduct? If the answer is ‘yes’, then you will be on safer legal ground. If the answer is ’no’, then a lesser sanction probably needs to be considered. Of course, this applies to a lesser extent for employees who do not have 2-years continuous service as they cannot claim for unfair dismissal (but they can claim for breach of contract if you dismiss for gross misconduct without notice when it is not a gross misconduct issue). As always, this advice is general in nature and will need to be tailored to any one situation. As an RMI member you have access to the RMI Legal advice line, as well as several industry experts for your assistance. Should you find yourself in the situation above, contact us at any stage for advice and assistance as appropriate. Motor Industry Legal Services Motor Industry Legal Services provides fully comprehensive legal advice and representation to UK motor retailers for one annual fee. It is the only regulated law firm in the UK which specialises in motor law and motor trade law. MILS currently advises over 1,000 individual businesses within the sector as well as the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) and its members.