Case Number: ADJ-00025413. Workplace Relations Commission

Docket NumberADJ-00025413
Hearing Date06 October 2020
Date01 December 2020
CourtWorkplace Relations Commission
ADJUDICATION OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00025413

Parties:

Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A Worker

A Health Service Provider

Representatives

Joe Hoolan Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation

HR Specialist

Complaint(s):

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969

CA-00032052-001

04/11/2019

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 06/10/2020

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Emer O'Shea

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts 1969] following the referral of the complaint(s)/dispute(s) to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint(s)/dispute(s) and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint(s)/dispute(s).

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

In her complaint form the complainant asserted that when she lodged a complaint with the respondent against her line manager there ensued an inexcusable delay culminating in a protracted process lasting 14 months. She alleges that this caused her stress and anxiety and when she sought to pursue a grievance about the respondent’s delay in processing her complaint , the respondent refused to process her complaint. The complainant was seeking an apology from the respondent and compensation for “the breach of trust, the additional stress and anxiety which the delay in dealing with the grievance caused, to the value of €10,000 as full and final settlement”.

The complainant is a senior nurse manager with over 40 years’ experience. She made the complaint against her line Manager on the 22nd. March 2018.Details of the complaint were submitted at the hearing – the complainant was aggrieved with the behaviour of her line manager towards her and complained of excessive workloads by virtue of having to cover vacant posts. She also complained about a failed mediation process that she described as causing her great distress .The union set out a chronology of the various meetings and exchanges that took place in processing the grievance and it was contended that it was June 2019 before the grievance was concluded .It was advanced that on the 24th.Sept. 2018 the Occupational Health Consultant wrote to the claimant’s line manager advising that the Dept. was “ assisting her through a very difficult industrial relations process” .”In error the letter was forwarded to the respondent in the grievance process”. It was submitted that at one point the employer was proposing to hold a grievance meeting between the complainant and her line manager and were advised by the INMO that this was inappropriate and did not comply with the grievance procedure. On the 23rd.Sept. 2019 the complainant wrote to the respondent complaining about the delay and advising that she suffered sick leave and stress leave “due to the issues she was facing in the workplace and that her grievance was not conducted in a reasonable manner as set out in the grievance procedure”.

The union set out a calendar of the timelines charting the processing of the grievance from its original submission in March 2018 to its conclusion in June 2019 and invoked the timelines set out in the respondent’s grievance procedure. It was submitted that the respondent had repeatedly failed to meet the time limits , that this had a negative effect on the...

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