Supermarket chain Aldi has been forced to pay €5,000 to Mohammed Kashif, for “unfairly dismissing” him after they found out he had been convicted of sexually assaulting a former colleague.
In May of 2022, Kashif sexually assaulted mother-of-two Donna O’Loughlin as she attended her first day on the job at the Kebabish chip shop in Foynes, County Limerick. Over the course of three hours, Kashif “slid his hand over her buttocks and then slapped her buttocks quite firmly… asked her for kisses and for sex… twice grabbed her vagina.” Kashif even rubbed himself against her, asking if she could feel his erection, explained Detective Elaine O’Keefe at his sentencing hearing in December 2022.
Following his conviction, Kashif, who had a second job at Aldi, reportedly informed his store manager, who allegedly “adopted a supportive role” and failed to inform more senior staff. When the senior staff became aware in February of 2023, Kashif was dismissed, with Aldi citing concerns for the safety of other female staff.
However, Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer Pasty Doyle awarded the payment of €5,000 to Kashif, the equivalent to two month’s gross pay, finding he was unfairly dismissed.
Doyle argued that there was no “sufficient connection between the crime committed and the employee’s work, in such a way that would render the employee unsuitable or capable of damaging the employer’s reputation.” She claimed that Aldi had taken “no regard” to Kashif’s “unblemished record … [nor to] the 8 weeks of uneventful service post declaration.”
Aldi, according to Doyle, instead had been “overwhelmed” by “anticipatory harm rather than actual harm caused by the print media” in their decision to sack him, claiming that no harm had been done as “no queries were raised by staff or customers” during the 8 week period between his sentencing and his termination.
“By doing this the Respondent failed to see the Employee and consider the impact of dismissal on an already state-sanctioned employee,” Doyle claimed.
During the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) hearing, Kashif complained that “no thought was given to his family status” when he was dismissed as only a “crazy person would repeat the behavior” if they were the sole earner in the household. Shockingly, he further argued that he had simply “mistaken the intentions” of O’Loughlin in 2022.
Speaking to the Sunday World, O’Loughlin said she felt “completely violated” by the decision of the WRC. “I felt violated the night he attacked me, I felt violated and humiliated in the court when the judge gave him a suspended sentence and now here I am again experiencing another violation… that he is being paid off the back of my suffering. Because that’s what this is,” she said.
O’Loughlin added that she was “fuming” about the situation, but thanked Aldi for sacking him to begin with. “They did absolutely the right thing as far as I am concerned. And I’m very disappointed they have been punished for it. I am really upset for them, for me and for other victims like me,” she continued.
“We’re dragged through the courts, we’re the ones who put ourselves out there, but the law in this country is so clearly set up to work in favour of abusers,” O’Loughlin said.
“He has proven himself to be an absolute danger to any woman he works with. Aldi chose to protect his female co-workers by dismissing him. Why should they be punished for that? Why should he be rewarded? What kind of country do we live in? It’s no country for women and victims of sexual abuse,” she concluded.
