LCR19881

The Worker / Claimant agreed to be bound by the Court’s Recommendation.

WORKER'S ARGUMENTS:

3. 1. The Claimant was treated in an unfair and biased manner by Management and was subjected to sanctions that were both unwarranted and grossly excessive by any standard.

2. The Claimant should be restored to his previous role on a commensurate salary and have his entire loss of earnings, calculated to be approximately €18,750, returned to him.

COMPANY'S ARGUMENTS:

4. 1. As a result of refusing to obey a legitimate instruction from Management, which warranted a final written warning, and on another occasion, before the warning sanction was lifted, he was found to be behaving in an abusive manner, which is deemed to be serious misconduct, the Claimant was demoted.

2. Management have always adhered to the agreed Company / Union Disciplinary Procedures and afforded the Claimant the right to representation and appeal. Management did consider but ultimately stepped back from the decision to dismiss.

RECOMMENDATION:

Having carefully considered the submissions presented by both parties at the original and resumed hearings the Court found that:-

• The charges made against the Worker concerned did not warrant the disciplinary action taken even if they were proven.
  
  The evidence presented to the Court did not, in all the circumstances of the case, substantiate the charges made.
  
  The procedures adopted were inadequate and unfair and fell below the normal standards of the Company.

• Both sanctions imposed by the employer, i.e. final written warning and demotion, be reversed and removed from the Worker's record.
  
  The Company restore the Worker to the management salary and status he held prior to the implementation of the disciplinary sanctions with full retrospection to the date on which he was demoted.