ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION

Adjudication Decision Reference: ADJ-00002425

Complaint/Dispute for Resolution:

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 31/05/2016

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: John Walsh

Venue: Ardboyne Hotel, Navan, Co. Meath.

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 41(4) of the Workplace Relations Act, 2015 and Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977, following the referral of the complaint/dispute to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint/dispute and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint/dispute.

Complainant’s Submission:

He has worked for the Respondent for over 15 years. He and the managing director were working at a customer site for the last 12 months. As part of their job they disposed of blue barrels from the site and sold them to farmers as water troughs and to store farm feed. They were never told that they could not remove those barrels from the site from which they were removing same over a significant period of time. The security officer at the site called them into his office and advised them that they were suspended from the site until further notice as an investigation was being carried out into the removal of the barrels. They were escorted off the site and to wait for a phone call once the investigation was completed. The next day he received an e-mail from the Respondent’s secretary stating that he had been dismissed for removing the barrels from the site. However he discovered that his boss returned to the site carrying out his work in the usual way despite the fact that he had also removed barrels from the site in order to sell them to farmers and to site personnel. He feels that the Respondent dismissed him without due process or fair procedures contrary to the terms of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977.

Respondent’s Submission:

The Respondent did not attend at the hearing.

Findings:

Based on the uncontested evidence presented at the hearing I find that the complaint is well founded.

Decision:

Section 41(4) of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint(s)/dispute(s) in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under Schedule 6 of that Act and under Section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977 requires that I make a decision in relation to the unfair dismissal claim consisting of a grant of redress in accordance with section 7 of the 1977 Act.

I order the Respondent to pay to the Complainant compensation in the sum of €3500 for breaches of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977. This sum must be paid within 6 weeks of the date of this decision.

Dated:   2^nd September 2016