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A Wetherspoons worker is set to receive thousands of pounds after he was allegedly "persecuted" by his manager. The pub chain has been instructed to pay a kitchen porter more than £25,000 following his use of staff discount on a family meal. Brandon Halstead, who works at The Albany Palace pub in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, applied his discount code for a meal for seven people, including himself, at another Wetherspoons site in August 2023. The discount amounted to 20%, reducing the total bill by £19.17. Subsequently, Brandon, who has autism, faced accusations of "dishonesty" and misusing the company's employee discount scheme, reports the Liverpool Echo . Wetherspoon's discount applies to groups of four or fewer, something Brandon informed his manager he was unaware of, according to an employment tribunal and as reported by The Mirror . Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE Brandon was then subjected to disciplinary action by his supervisors, leaving him feeling "persecuted and let down". The kitchen porter, who began employment at the pub in September 2018, was later signed off due to workplace stress. Following this, an employment tribunal determined that Brandon must receive £25,412 as his autism put him at a "substantial disadvantage". A Wetherspoons spokesperson said: "The individual is still employed by Wetherspoon and we do not comment on employment matters involving current employees. It should be noted that the employees harassment claim was not upheld." The Daily Mail initially reported that the porter was called to a disciplinary hearing for gross misconduct following an allegation that he had been "dishonest" and abused the policy. During a later shift that month, the employment tribunal in Bristol was told that Brandon was summoned by his shift manager to discuss a potential breach of the employee discount policy. He admitted during the meeting that he had used his employee discount for himself and more than three other people, unaware there was a limit on the number. Brandon also revealed to his boss that his mother had access to his Wetherspoons app to check his rota timetables, which he was informed was a violation of data security policy. A subsequent meeting was arranged involving his mother, Sarah, who explained to her son's manager that she needed this access to assist Brandon with planning bus times and arranging lifts to and from work. The tribunal heard how the mother and son outlined the impact of his autism, stating that someone would need to point out the specific policies he was accused of breaching or explain them to him in a sit-down meeting. Following this, Brandon received a letter instructing him to attend a gross misconduct disciplinary hearing. In addition to being accused of "dishonesty" and "abuse" of the employee discount policy, he was charged with failing to adhere to data protection and confidentiality policy. The entire process caused the Brandon "significant stress and anxiety", leading to him being signed off work due to stress. An occupational health report later revealed that he felt "persecuted and let down". Sarah submitted a formal grievance on her son's behalf in September. Senior officials from Wetherspoons attempted to organise a grievance meeting at the request of Sarah, with the mum subsequently stating that returning to work was "completely out of the question". She also claimed that management had "failed to make any reasonable adjustments" during the process after she was asked about possible accommodations for her son. The meeting never happened, and during ongoing discussions regarding her son's potential return to work, Sarah "requested a compensatory gesture". Wetherspoons later rejected the mum's request for compensation or a "goodwill gesture" in relation to the situation, leading her to bring claims of disability-related harassment and failure to make reasonable adjustments to the tribunal. The tribunal heard that there was a "strict zero tolerance policy" for "anyone that breached the discount policy". Presiding over the tribunal, employment Judge Murdoch stated that while she did find there was unwarranted conduct towards Brandon, she did not classify it as harassment. Instead, she determined that applying the zero tolerance policy to an individual with autism "who did not know the rule and was not dishonest in his misuse of it" was not a "proportional response". The reasonable adjustment claim was upheld, with the statement: "We find that the application of this standard procedure puts [Brandon] at a substantial disadvantage compared to someone without [his] autism. A comparator, although they may find immediate suspension on full pay to be stressful, would not necessarily feel the intensity of stress and anxiety that [Brandon] did. "Additionally, in the case of someone without autism, they might have known about the rules of the discount policy and broken them dishonestly, or they might have been dishonest when asked if they had broken the rules. In this kind of case, we understand that [Wetherspoons] might want to suspend them while they were investigating, but in [Brandon] case, there was no evidence whatsoever of dishonesty. "[Brandon] admitted straight away to breaking the rules of the discount policy because he was unaware of the rules. A typical feature of autism is a strong desire to adhere to rules."
