Case Number: ADJ- 00035999. Workplace Relations Commission

Judgment Date17 October 2022
Docket NumberADJ- 00035999
Date17 October 2022
Year2022
CourtWorkplace Relations Commission
Procedure:

In accordance with Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 (as amended)following the referral of the dispute to me by the Director General, I inquired into the dispute and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any information relevant to the dispute.

Background:

This case is concerned with a dispute as to how the employer dealt with a grievance/complaint of bullying by the worker. In December 2021 the worker was dismissed which he relates directly to referring this dispute to the WRC. A claim of unfair dismissal is decided separately.

Summary of Workers Case:

The worker commenced employment as a security worker based at a local hospital in October 2019. He gave as his gross pay €279.00 working a twenty-four-hour week. In August 2020 he left the site and made a complaint against a named supervisor specifically about the way that person spoke to him which he described as shouting and speaking to him with no respect. The employer told him they were going to investigate his complaint. In October 2020 they wrote to him. They decided that there was insufficient evidence to support his complaint as the named supervisor had denied all the allegations. When he returned from sick leave, he found that HR met only with the supervisor and interviewed nobody else among the workers. A few weeks later the same supervisor began to make complaints against the claimant sending emails that he was leaving work early or going to the shop. He described these complaints as lies-it was all just to get rid of him. Others on the site went to the shop or went home at lunch time- and the same supervisor had no difficulty with that-only because it was him.

In March 2021 he received a notice of a disciplinary meeting in relation to his leaving the site early on an unspecified date.

On 21.05.2021 the worker left the site-he could not work in that environment. He sent an email about the situation and then went out sick on certified medical certificates which cited workplace stress. He referred to racism and being treated differently to others. There was a meeting with him in early June and around that time he used the term bullying. In June 2021 he began recording what the supervisor was saying about him. He sent an email about others leaving the site early saying there were no complaints about them-only him. Again, he received a reply from HR stating that, among other points, that there was insufficient evidence to support his complaint as the supervisor had denied all the allegations. As far as he was concerned the complaint was not properly investigated and he...

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