Sacked for an 80c blank DVD

Vaimoana Tapaleao at NZ Herald reports:

A man who took a blank DVD from his workplace for his own use has been found to have been justifiably fired from his job.

David Dumolo worked as an information technology technician for the Lakes District Health Board, helping hospital sites in Taupo and Rotorua.

In May last year he was dismissed from his job after he took a blank DVD, without permission, for his personal use.

My first reaction to this is that it was vast over-kill. Hell, I’m pretty sure I’ve taken the odd blank CD home in the distant past, just as I’ve sometimes taken a pen home.

A month before he lost his job, Mr Dumolo had gone into work on Saturday, April 24, to get a blank DVD.

On the day he took the DVD, another employee spotted Mr Dumolo and reported him to their manager.

This changes it somewhat. I would not go into work to grab something for personal use. I’d go to Dick Smith’s and buy it. If it was a “I was heading out the door and realised I need a blank CD and grabbed one from my desk” I think it would be less of an issue.

The Employment Relations Authority found that Mr Dumolo’s dismissal was justified.

His managers’ decision to fire him was fair in that in the seven months he had been working he had been given a formal warning and had been spoken to on several occasions about other incidents.

This I suspect is the major reason he was sacked. There had been other problems and they used the DVD as a catalyst to get him fired.