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Last year Walkers Crisps pursued disciplinary action against workers in

1st September 2005
Page 38
Page 38, 1st September 2005 — Last year Walkers Crisps pursued disciplinary action against workers in
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

one of its factories where it was necessary to use anonymous evidence.

The key issue in what became known as the "moneybags" case was the working environment at the site where there was "a history of incidents of intimidation and retribution at the hands of employees when they felt that fellow employees were co-operating too closely with management".

Several employees were accused of stealing prize money inserted into packets of crisps. Numerous people came forward with tip-offs of money being stolen, but they were deeply anxious about being identified.

To protect the witnesses, contact with informants was limited to one trusted manager, who wasn't involved in the main disciplinary process. Significantly, however, that manager was able to vouch for the sincerity of the evidence and the good standing of the witnesses.

After considering the balance between the need for accused employees to know the case against them and the need to protect informants, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) decided that the degree of protection afforded to witnesses was appropriate.

In particular, the EAT noted that the company would probably have failed to accumulate sufficient evidence for disciplinary charges without strict safeguards on anonymity.

As a result the subsequent dismissals were judged to be fair.

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