A BBC security manager has been awarded more than £30,000 in compensation after being unfairly dismissed for spending 12 hours reviewing CCTV footage in a bid to discover who had left a mess in a staff kitchen. The employment tribunal heard that Mohammad Rakib, who worked at the BBC Wales headquarters for security contractor Mitie, was dismissed for gross misconduct following the incident.
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Mr Rakib was accused of breaching data protection rules by accessing CCTV footage without the appropriate licence. Investigators reported that he gave varying explanations for his actions, including assisting a colleague in locating a lost bag, though another security worker alleged that he admitted to checking the footage purely to identify the culprit responsible for the kitchen mess. Mitie’s investigator, Martyn Barrass, later informed BBC corporate security manager Joel Adlington, who raised concerns about possible breaches of GDPR regulations.
Mitie subsequently held a disciplinary hearing and dismissed Mr Rakib, who had relocated from London to Cardiff for the role and worked with the company for eight years. His appeal against the dismissal was rejected, prompting him to take the case to an employment tribunal. Judge Rachel Harfield found that the company had failed to provide clear training or procedures regarding CCTV use and ruled that the offence should not have automatically been considered gross misconduct.
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The tribunal heard that Mr Rakib is now earning minimum wage as a security officer at SGD Guarding, with limited prospects for promotion. Judge Harfield noted that the dismissal had set back his career progression significantly. Following the ruling, a settlement of £31,637 was agreed in recognition of his unfair dismissal.
