BMW employee sacked for taking lunch break at Burger King, wins £16,000 payout 

A BMW employee won more than £16,000 (16,000 pounds) after being fired for going to Burger King for his lunch break, reported The Mirror.

Ryan Parkinson, a temporary employee at the German automaker's Oxford plant, was fired after he went for a lunch break at Burger King while on an overtime shift. When he returned, the managers chastised him for failing to notify them that he had taken a lunch break, despite Parkinson's assurances.

Following a disciplinary hearing in May 2019 regarding the Burger King trip, he was fired. However, after he filed an appeal in June, he was reinstated and given a written warning. On November 25, 2019, Parkinson was reportedly fired again for gross misconduct after leaving the site yet again.

“My co-workers were talking about where they wanted to eat. Everyone wanted a kebab, and I said I wanted a Burger King,” Parkinson was quoted as saying by LBC News. “I said I’m going to get a Burger King. I got on a scooter thing and went and got a Burger King and sat in my car until half past.”

Parkinson then filed a lawsuit against GI Group for wrongful termination. He also alleged racial harassment and discrimination in his lawsuit, but these claims of racism were rejected.

Nevertheless, the BMW factory employee received $16,916 in unpaid wages and compensation.

Parkinson was in fact employed by GI Group, which supplies contract labourers to the Oxford factory of BMW. His supervisor claimed that he had left the site twice without permission.

“GI Group failed to investigate the assertions by (Mr Parkinson) and his trade union representatives that this was a widespread practice done during break times by dozens of other employees,” said Employment Judge Stephen Vowles.

“There was no evidence of any procedure in place by [GI Group] for obtaining permission to exit the site or to notify a supervisor of exiting the site or the recording of any such permission or notification.”