Pizza Hut worker wins £11,000 after being sacked for reporting food poisoning

David Low started at Ultra Catering’s Pizza Hut on King Street in Aberdeen in June 2023 while studying architecture at Robert Gordon University and was promoted to shift manager after quickly picking up duties. After taking a food safety course in early 2024, Low reported a suspected food-poisoning case to Pizza Hut in April 2024; Pizza Hut acknowledged the report on May 1, 2024, and Low says he himself became ill after eating food from the branch.

Low’s written notes and email raised concrete hygiene concerns at the King Street store. In a note he recorded: “I note there have been 3 cases of food poisoning from our store in the last 2 months. The doughs are stretched and left unsauced and often left overnight and used the following day/evening. Hopefully this is deemed serious enough to investigate as it is no surprise to me that people are getting ill when these processes are happening.” In an April email to management he warned, “I cannot be held responsible for us failing Ace [the hygiene inspection]. Until a change comes this is unfortunately what will happen.”

The tribunal record and contemporaneous reports detail specific operational failures Low flagged. Staff were reportedly entering inaccurate temperature checks into the Hut Bot app rather than taking readings; supplied macaroni cheese that needed to be used within two days was sometimes redated and reused; and Low and colleagues handled customer complaints of illness by offering compensatory free meals. An unannounced inspection on May 18, 2024 found multiple issues and noted that 30% of required checks had been missed.

Management’s response in May 2024 escalated the dispute. Low told a tribunal he was told his pay would be cut and he would be demoted from shift manager to an “in-store” employee, and that he was instructed to work at the Dunfermline branch—more than two hours from his Aberdeen home—which he viewed as impracticable. He recorded a telephone call with director Mr A Khaira on May 19, 2024. Management accused him of “maliciously complaining to Pizza Hut” and of “sabotage,” and the company said it was entitled to redeploy him to another branch and described the complaints as baseless.

An employment tribunal concluded Low’s disclosures about food hygiene were protected and that his treatment amounted to unfair dismissal, awarding him compensation reported at £11,270.14. Coverage of the ruling has described it as highlighting concerns about worker protections when staff raise health and safety issues in franchise-operated takeaways. Ultra Catering has maintained that it was entitled to move Low and that the whistleblowing allegations formed part of a campaign to remove the King Street manager.

The decision leaves open questions for franchisors and brand operators about how reports raised to Pizza Hut and recorded in systems such as Hut Bot are handled, and about redeployment and disciplinary steps when staff escalate food-safety concerns.