An Irish cinema may have just bought the world's most expensive hot dog for an unfairly fired worker.

Ireland's employment appeals court on Thursday ordered Dublin's Cineworld to pay Carl Meade €20,000 for canning him over his illicit discount on a workplace snack.

Cineworld said it used surveillance footage to show Meade buying an extra-large hot dog, but paying only for a regular, and taking a slightly pricier brand of candy than what appeared on his signed receipt.

The total difference in cost between what he bought, and what he consumed? One euro.

A three-judge panel found that the employer should have considered Meade's contention that he'd made an innocent mistake.

Meade worked three years for Cineworld before his 2012 dismissal for gross misconduct.