ADJUDICATION OFFICER RECOMMENDATION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00012748

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	A Technical Support Analyst	An Services and IT Support Company

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-00016883-001	17/01/2018

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 12/07/2018

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Michael McEntee

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts1969following 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).

Background:

The dispute is between a Software Support Analyst and an IT Support Company regarding the alleged aggressive and harassing movement of office furniture, specifically a Desk Pedestal, by the Respondent over the Christmas Holidays of 2017/2018.

The Complaint is one of a series of Complaints lodged by the Complainant regarding a wide range of issues with the Respondent.

1: Summary of Complainant’s Case:

Over the Christmas break of 2017/2018 a Desk Pedestal in which the Complainant kept personal belongings in the Office was moved by local management to an “unsupervised and obscure” location in the office. The Complainant was also of the belief that during the absence of employees from the Offices over the Christmas break his Pedestal was covertly interfered with and personal information examined by the Respondent. These actions were directly linked to Discrimination regarding his Race and Ethnic origin.

The Complaint gave Oral Evidence not supported by a written presentation.

2: Summary of Respondent’s Case:

The moving of the Pedestal was openly admitted to by the Respondent. His Team Leader (Mr. XA) admitted to some lack of clarity regarding the exact ownership of locker Pedestals in the office and the further confusing fact that some staff shared Pedestals. He had completely innocently moved the Pedestal a short distance as staff were changing Desks/Work Stations at the time.

As soon as the Complainant brought the matters to his attention post the Christmas break he immediately engaged with the Complainant and satisfactorily, he felt, resolved the issue. There was absolutely no agenda or covert motivation in moving the Pedestal over the Christmas break. It certainly was not “Interfered” with as alleged.

For ease of reference the move was from one side of a medium sized room to the other.

The Senior Team Lead (Mr XB) offered later in January to meet with the Complainant to discuss the issue and or to get the Complainant raise a formal Grievance. As the Complainant had referred the issue to the WRC at this stage he declined the offer to meet the Senior Team Lead. Various e mail exchanges followed culminating in the Complainant’s resignation on the 5th February 2018. This was subsequently withdrawn. The HR Department had become involved by this stage and they noted to the Complainant that he had not raised a formal Grievance.

The matter of the Desk Pedestal move was a genuine mistake, if it could even be described as such, by the Team Leader and was completely innocent and without any “agenda” as alleged.

The claim should be dismissed as a completely overblown claim that has no merit.

The Respondent gave Oral and Written evidence which was open to cross examination by the Complainant.

3: Findings and Conclusions:

The claim as lodged is based on a series of allegations arising from the moving of a desk Pedestal a relatively short distance in an Open plan office. Staff regularly move around from Station to Station and the actions of the team Leader, from the evidence given (which was open to challenge) were completely innocent. No malice was intended and there was no evidence of a “Covert Agenda”. I could not see any link to any alleged Bullying or Harassment actions.

The Respondent offered the opportunity to the Complainant to lodge a formal grievance but this was declined. Matters were overtaken by his resignation and the latter withdrawal of same. The Complainant gave Oral evidence which I found lacked substance.

Strictly on the basis of the evidence I could find no substance to the “Moving Pedestal” claim and I recommend that it be dismissed without further comment.

4: Recommendation:

Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts, 1969 requires that I make a recommendation in relation to the dispute.

Act	Complaint/Dispute Reference No.	Summary recommendation. Please refer to Section 3 above for detailed reasoning.
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969	CA-00016883-001	Recommendation is that the claim be Dismissed.

Dated: 21.09.18

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Michael McEntee