Worker who sold alcohol to teen makes scapegoat claim

A DROGHEDA WOMAN, who was dismissed from Dunnes Stores in West Street when she sold alcohol to a teenager in a garda sting operation, says she was made a ‘sacrificial lamb' by her employer.

36- year- old Lorraine Fitzpatrick told an Employment Appeals Tribunal hearing she was made a scapegoat by the Irish company, ahead of the State’s first prosecution for selling alcohol to minors using teenage test purchasers at around 7.45pm on Friday, December 9th, 2011.

The single mother-of-two was dismissed for gross misconduct after she admitted selling four bottles of Smirnoff Ice to a 15-year-old girl at the town centre grocery shop.

During the continuation of her unfair dismissal case against Dunnes, Ms Fitzpatrick claimed she believed the girl looked over 18 and she was made the ‘fall guy’ after the retailer was prosecuted and fined €1,500.

The store was also ordered to close for three days in March 2012, in the State’s first conviction using teens aged between 15 and 17 to act as ‘ test purchasers’ to prosecute off-licences that sell alcohol to anyone under 18.

However, Dunnes won an appeal against the conviction last July and was ordered to pay €4,000 to charity instead. Mandate trade union representative Willie Hamilton said Ms Fitzpatrick had an ‘ exemplary record’ during her 12-year tenure with the company as a parttime sales assistant. Barrister Marcus Dowling, for Dunnes Stores, argued that she was dismissed for gross misconduct for breaching the company’s policy of asking anyone who appears to be under 23 for identification when buying alcohol.

The tribunal retired to consider the case.