A sous chef at Tom Kerridge’s Harrods Fish and Chips restaurant has won a £4,000 payout for wrongful dismissal after being sacked for leaving almost £700 worth of seafood out.
Giresse Mbala left 10kg of lobster and 150 scallops out in the kitchen without refrigeration in the middle of summer at the prestigious department store, a tribunal heard.
Mr Mbala would have been allowed to keep his job had he not made a series of other health and safety errors on the eatery’s “busiest night of the year”, Valentine’s Day.
The veteran cook claimed that the man who investigated him had acted “like a bully” towards him, and had previously shouted at him “like a young boy” in front of customers.
Mr Mbala, who had worked at Harrods for almost two decades, won £4,000 for wrongful dismissal because Harrods did not give him the full notice period he was entitled to.
However, his case for unfair sacking was dismissed when it was found his practice had “real risks to public health”.
open image in galleryMr Mbala started working at the Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, London, in 2005 as a kitchen porter.
He was eventually promoted to the role of sous chef, where he was responsible for running the kitchen and supervising the junior kitchen staff.
Harrods styles itself as “The World’s Leading Luxury Department Store”.
Mr Mbala worked at the Fish and Chips restaurant, which was “celebrity endorsed” by chef Tom Kerridge.
On 15 February 2024, a Harrods food safety team made an inspection of the kitchen and noted that there were deficiencies in food handling and storage.
Mr Mbala admitted that he had been the senior chef on duty on the night before – 14 February – which was Valentine’s Day and the “busiest night of the year”.
The kitchen would usually run with five members of staff, but that evening there were only three on duty.
Mr Mbala was the last person on shift and was responsible for closing the restaurant, and he had only 30 minutes to do so after the last orders were served.
The food safety team noted four main hygiene issues in the kitchen.
A dish of dirty brining water was being incorrectly stored in the fridge with the fresh produce, a fish had been left out sitting in a dish of water with no label, a dish of uncovered lobsters had been left sitting “in their own juices”, and “poorly vacuum sealed scallops were left defrosting with no label on”.
Mr Mbala admitted that he could have made mistakes when closing down the kitchen because of how “challenging” the night before had been, but suggested that the morning staff could also have made these mistakes.
However, bosses found that the morning staff could not have done it as the food safety team carried out the inspection first thing.
It was found that Mr Mbala was “at least in part responsible” for the breaches, but that he had 18 years “without a single disciplinary incident for food safety” and Valentine’s Day had indeed been very busy.
In August 2024, the decision was made to issue the sous chef a final written warning.
But just a month later, in September, further issues were raised and Mr Mbala was suspended while an investigation took place.
The investigation was carried out in part by Chef de Cuisine Luke Truelove.
Mr Mbala told the tribunal that he did not get along with Mr Truelove, and alleged that “he was like a bully and it happened many time[s] – in front of customers he would shout at me like a young boy”.
It was alleged that in July of that year, the kitchen had received orders of monkfish, 10kg of lobster and 150 scallops – none of which were properly stored and were allowed to spoil.
open image in galleryThe lobster was valued at £250 and the scallops £435, totalling £685 of stock.
The investigation found that Mr Mbala had not been working when each of the deliveries had been made, but that he had not spotted and properly stored the valuable fish.
The lobster was left out for a week and the scallops had been left out for five days without being processed.
Ultimately, the investigation found that this amounted to misconduct, and because of Mr Mbala’s earlier final written warning, he was sacked.
Mr Mbala disagreed with the decision and took Harrods to an employment tribunal in Croydon, South London.
The tribunal made no findings on the bullying allegation against Mr Truelove.
Employment Judge Judith Richter dismissed Mr Mbala’s claim of unfair dismissal.
She concluded: “I am satisfied that the misconduct found concerned the handling of food items which do present real risks to public health.
“I am satisfied that [Harrods] was therefore entitled to treat the breaches as contravention of [Harrods’] behaviour policy and categorise them as misconduct.
“Although [Mr Mbala] was not solely responsible for the breaches I am satisfied that [Mr Mbala’s] position as a manager in the Kitchen environment was an important factor in establishing his liability.
“[Mr Mbala’s] failures had led on two occasions to two sets of food products spoiling which had caused wasted costs to the business and had brought potential food safety risks.
“The sanction for the first breaches had been mitigated to a final written warning because of the mitigation advanced by [Mr Mbala] as to the circumstances of 14 February, but no such mitigation presented itself in relation to the July incidents.
“Examining the matter overall I can not say, even with [Mr Mbala’s] long and satisfactory work record, that on the facts dismissal falls outside of the band of responses which a reasonable employer could have adopted.
“I can well understand why [Mr Mbala], after a long history of employment without a single disciplinary issue, finds it impossible to accept that he was at fault in two sets of incidents which occur within close proximity.
“Ultimately however, for the reasons I have set out, I am satisfied that the complaint of unfair dismissal is not well founded and must be dismissed.”
During the course of the proceedings, Harrods conceded that it had wrongfully dismissed Mr Mbala, as it had given him only eight weeks notice rather than the proper 12.
He was therefore awarded £4,024 for wrongful dismissal.