Saying scanner price codes were so complicated it was not obvious how any customer could figure them out, a Saskatchewan labour arbitrator has ruled a woman fired for stealing a $1.80 in buns should get her job back..“Her discharge was without just cause. She is entitled to reinstatement,” wrote arbitrator Allen Ponak..Carol Aramenko of Prince Albert, a longtime bread slicer and bin stocker at a local Safeway store, was fired following a 2019 incident in which she underpaid $1.80 for a half-dozen flaxseed rolls as she was on her way home after a 5 a.m. shift..Aramenko, 60, testified in her ten years at Safeway she hadn’t worked as a checkout clerk, was unfamiliar with five-digit grocery codes, and “made a mistake and was not stealing the buns.”.Evidence showed Aramenko incorrectly entered code 97208 for artisan rolls at 35¢ each instead of code 97108 for flaxseed rolls at 65¢ apiece..“There is zero tolerance for theft,” Wes Erlendson, the store manager, wrote in a termination letter..“You under-rang flax sandwich rolls. Your misconduct constitutes dishonesty and theft..“You said you must have made a mistake in ringing in the product. Your explanation was not plausible nor credible.”.Local 496 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union protested the woman’s firing was harsh. A union agent told the arbitrator that “finding flaxseed rolls on the self-checkout screen was confusing as flaxseed rolls were not listed or displayed on any screen and were under a category, sandwich deli rolls, that was anything but obvious.”.And Ponak agreed, describing the self-checkout screens at the Prince Albert Safeway as bewildering..“The self-checkout process is anything but straightforward for flaxseed rolls,” wrote Ponak..“Flaxseed rolls are neither listed nor displayed in the self-checkout system. Flaxseed rolls were categorized under ‘rolls deli sandwich’ with a photo that did not resemble a flaxseed roll. It is a mystery how a customer is supposed to discern flaxseed rolls should be entered as a deli sandwich roll with a photo that looks nothing like a flaxseed roll.”.“The self-checkout system for flaxseed rolls is confusing and could easily result in errors by a purchaser, even a purchaser with strong knowledge of bakery products.”.Ponak ordered Safeway to rehire the bakery employee with compensation on one condition: Aramenko is forbidden from making future purchases at self-checkout scanners..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
