A Hove shop worker who said that he was sacked after defending himself against a violent shoplifter is taking his employer to a tribunal.
Sheriff Cham, 33, challenged a shoplifter who was trying to leave the Co-op store in Dyke Road, Hove, with a £15 container of baby formula, cheese and salad.
But when Mr Cham grabbed the high-value baby formula from the man, the thief became aggressive, pushing and punching him in the face and splitting his lip.
Mr Cham, a team leader at the store and a trained security guard, sat on the shoplifter to try to deescalate the situation then let the shoplifter go when he relaxed.
He said that his dismissal was unfair because he was defending himself against an assault.
He said he was also dismissed because he showed his wife the security camera footage of the attack which Co-op said breached the thief’s privacy.
The incident was reported to Sussex Police which said that it had requested security camera footage from the store but it had not been supplied and no suspect has been identified.
Mr Cham told Brighton and Hove News: “I thought there’s no security here to protect me and he kept punching so all I did was lift him up, put him on the ground and deescalate the situation.
“I was protecting myself and he was still punching me. Even when I got the CCTV after, you can see that he still came into the store to look for me.
“They dismissed me and said I broke some protocol there, that I should have let him go and that I didn’t show any remorse.
“I told them why would I ask for forgiveness? I’m the one that’s been assaulted.
“Since then, it’s like my life has not been stable because I was working there continuously for seven years and now, all of a sudden, I already have three different jobs because of the bills.”
Mr Cham had worked in the Dyke Road branch of Co-op for seven years as a team leader when the attack happened in July last year. He was dismissed in September after an internal investigation.
He said that he usually ignored shoplifters and reported shoplifting incidents at the Hove store which he said had only a part time security guard covering four evening shifts at the time.
Staff are trained using a short online course on conflict avoidance which takes minutes to complete and are told to follow a five-point policy.
The policy states that employee safety comes first, to keep a safe distance, not to put hands on a suspect, to stay inside the store and report incidents to a manager.
Despite the Co-op policy of not challenging shoplifters, Mr Cham said that floor workers and managers often did challenge them at the Dyke Road store.
His legal team said that there was no guidance for staff on what to do if a shoplifter attacked an employee.
Mr Cham said: “If they gave us security on that very morning, I wouldn’t have even bothered to approach the guy or anything like that. The security will do the job instead of us having to deal with that.
“But after going through all of this, they don’t even care about how I feel, how I am or how my health is.
“Even to this day, the staff, they’re all scared to come and testify and give a witness statement.
“In my own experience, I feel that the way they treated me especially in that situation is very unfair.
“Now, they’ve got security there in the morning and in the evening since the incident. But why didn’t they have it back then?
“It’s a nightmare for shop workers these days. We are risking our lives every day going to work, not knowing what is coming next.”
After the incident, he called his manager, named in court documents as Josephine Jensen, to say that he was leaving his shift to go to hospital – and she told him to find someone else to cover his absence and to carry on working until then.
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He went to the accident and emergency (A&E) department at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, where he was given stitches.
He was unable to tell his wife the details of the assault because of his split lip so he showed her the security camera footage.
In the run-up to the attack, Mr Cham was suffering from stress and anxiety, with his wife losing a baby and his uncle having cancer diagnosed in the same month.
He took a three-week absence from work, from Thursday 18 May last year to Sunday 11 June. His uncle died on Saturday 20 May.
Just four days before the incident, in July, he was given a second absence warning for this time off by a manager, named as Anthony Walker.
Mr Walker said that he could have been dismissed considering his previous absences – six days spread over 2022.
Mr Cham appealed against this absence warning on Wednesday 9 August, while the investigation of the incident was ongoing.
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He also tried to appeal against the Co-op’s decision to dismiss him in September, stating that other staff had in fact challenged shoplifters without being dismissed.
He was told that his appeal had been denied in a meeting on Friday 20 October. Operations manager Steve Brown told him that because there had not been a physical assault recorded on staff for two years, this proved that staff at Hove, including Mr Cham, had not habitually challenged shoplifters.
Mr Cham said: “I don’t want to let them get away with it because this is unfair and they can easily do it to someone else. I need to set an example.
“I don’t fight for myself. I fight for the people that are going to try to face those kinds of situations so it won’t happen to them.”
Mr Cham is claiming compensation at an employment tribunal hearing which is due to be heard on Thursday 4 July and Friday 5 July.
The Co-op said: “Our colleagues are at the heart of the Co-op and their safety, security and wellbeing is always our clear priority.
“It would not be appropriate, however, for us to comment on an individual disciplinary matter.”
I used to work at that store back in 2017 and Sheriff was a great colleague. Sorry to read he has been let down like this.
Oh boy, Co-op won’t be looked favourably around this story. His actions, whilst going against company policy, were well-intentioned, and the situation occurred because corporate failed in its responsibility to ensure a safe workplace for its employees.
I hope Mr Cham is awarded compensation at the employment tribunal for this incident.
If the events did play out as described by the unfortunate former employee, the Coop have essentially committed HR suicide and scored a PR own goal.
Coop, your employee got injured defending YOUR property and YOUR profits. Rather than give the guy a hard time you should support him and applaud him. As to breaching a thief’s privacy are you kidding?
A
I use to work at co op, we would regularly trip up shop lifters, grab stuff of them.
Having worked many jobs over the years Co-op has to be one of the worst companies I’ve ever worked for, low wages, useless management and even more useless area managers. They only survive because of their locations. The brand make themselves out to be ethical, they are anything but. I’ve boycotted them ever since, good on you for standing up to these cowboys.
This is just not right. It shows just how much the COOP think of their staff.
On the outside they make out they are a wonderful, ethical, caring company. But internally they are very different!
Where is the venue of the Employment Tribunal hearing? It is a public event.
That would be interesting. It is time that people made a stand. I shall not be visiting the Co-op any longer for anything. I only downloaded their App last week, but I’ll delete it.
Coop should be protecting this poor guy. Profits before safety. I was only in the coop on church road the other week and witnessed a blatant high value theft occur (taking 30 seconds to enter with an empty bag, grab bottles of alcohol and leave). I mentioned it to the one member of staff there who said ‘they’ve taken away our security’. I don’t feel as safe when I shop there now. Loss of profits will mean price rises .. everyone loses, except the coop. Maybe it’s time to shop in Tesco’s.
Walking through the passage in Brighton station between Marks and Spencer and Smiths, I saw a teenage girl wresting with what appeared to be a homeless man. She was trying to recover a bottle the man had stolen from the shop. She was joined a few seconds later by another member of staff and between them they got the bottle off him. The thief just swaggered off. Lawless Brighton.
Oh wow, so not only are the Co-op public stating that they don’t chat;lange shoplifters, but that they are Mr Cham is undergoing an “individual disciplinary matter” for protecting their store.
My thoughts are that the Co-op are spineless, no doubt just passing on shoplifting costs to their customers, and the more this is allowed to occur unchallenged, the worse it will become.
To all shoplifters: Dyke Road, Seven Dials Co-op doesn’t challenge shoplifters, so help yourselves.
I also think that Mr Cham is doing himself a disservice by working here for seven years, and he clearly is bothered about the best interests of his employer, which many people are not bothered about. Someone give this man a job – a better job. He sounds like the sort of person you want working for you.
I hope this works out well for Mr Cham, and the Co-op should be ashamed.
Absolutely its discusting
It really is
Thieves and tramps can do what they like. Hard working people get treated like dirt. Co-op are a disgrace.
Horrible behaviour by the Co-op what a way to treat a member of staff who had a clear record, seems like a plan was hatched to dismiss this member of staff by management as why would you bring back a sick record from a previous year giving the man a disciplinary 3 days before this incident actually occurred, (more stress) after the member of staff had lost 3 members of their family with in a month including his son at 20 weeks mmc no wonder they are not commenting.
I agree with all the criticism of Co-op related to this article, but I’m surprised that some seem to think it’s only happening at Co-op and as a result they’re going to shop elsewhere. The truth is that it’s pretty much the same at most shops and businesses. Profit comes first, ethics don’t matter – except in their marketing portrayals.
Correct.
Lost for words on this one.
A clearly decent, respected and loyal employee doing what he is paid to do.
Co-op really have shown their colours here. Sacking a man for doing what the wet faced management would have the balls to do.
Contemptible. Everything that is wrong in this weak country full of glassbacks now.
Well going by this every co-op store should have security all the time to protect its staff. This is probably why co-op shops are a easy target as shoplifters know they won’t be challenged. I hope the co-op has to pay out a fortune for the injured staff member just doing his job.
You may as well make everything in all shops free…..
If you’re not going to defend your businesses and staff just open the doors and give it away…
The business owners attitude is PATHETIC ….
Never going to Co-op again then. What a way to treat a loyal employee who was injured trying to prevent somebody getting something for nothing. Never stolen anything from a shop in my life but seemingly it’s easy to get away with it (still not going to do shoplifting though).