Mark Brennan won his Mark Brennan M&S WRC decision after a Workplace Relations Commission adjudicator found Marks and Spencer had gone too far in dismissing him over misuse of his staff discount credentials. Michael McEntee said the penalty was excessive and cut the award to €2,000.
Brennan had worked for Marks and Spencer for more than a decade. His discount credentials were used 73 times between October 31st and December 17th, 2024, and only one of those transactions was linked to his own payment card.
Marks and Spencer discount use
The company began an investigation on January 8th, 2025. Brennan was dismissed with notice on February 6th, 2025, and that dismissal was later upheld in March after an internal appeal hearing.
The misuse went beyond a single checkout and, in the adjudicator’s account, the credentials were used simultaneously in multiple geographical locations. Brennan’s wife secretly copied the details and shared them with her family and friends.
Michael McEntee decision
Adjudicator Michael McEntee upheld Brennan’s complaint in a decision published on Monday. He said: "It seemed excessive to classify as a dismissible offence, the act of allowing through carelessness your domestic partner to seriously misuse, unknown to the [worker], a staff discount scheme," and added: "The complainant contributed significantly by his carelessness,"
The case was argued for Marks and Spencer by Judy McNamara through Ibec. Eoin Coates represented Brennan through Mandate and told the tribunal the discount card had been copied by Brennan’s then domestic partner and made available to a wide circle of her family and acquaintances.
Brennan €2,000 award
McEntee set headline redress at €4,000 and then reduced it by 50 per cent to €2,000 because Brennan had been careless with the tablet computer that allowed access to the discount card credentials. Brennan had also offered to pay back €464.39 in shopping discounts claimed on his account, and he faced a prospective loss of earnings totalling €4,600.
The ruling leaves the dismissal overturned at the Workplace Relations Commission, but Brennan’s own carelessness still reduced the amount he received. The unresolved point is the rule that let Marks and Spencer treat the discount misuse as dismissal-worthy in the first place.
