Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

An employee

An employer

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991

CA-00020572-001

16/07/2018

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under the Industrial Relations Acts

CA-00020572-002

16/07/2018

The Complainant commenced employment with the Respondent on 04/09/2017 as a Customer Service and Supply Chain Specialist. Her contract of employment was fixed – term (04/09/2017 until 01/06/2018). The Complainant was recruited to cover a period of maternity leave taken by the permanent job holder.

The Complainant commenced employment on a salary of €42,000 per annum with a bonus potential of 5% of basic salary conditional on certain business and personal results.

The Complainant’s employment ended on 22/02/2018.

The complaint was received by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on 16TH July 2018.

1.       From early in the relationship the Complainant feels that she was the victim of systematic bullying from one of her colleagues, Miss X.

2.       The Complainant felt that Miss X did not like her.

3.       On 18th December 2017 Miss X is alleged to have spoken to the Complainant using an aggressive tone and questioned her about where she had been. The Complainant informed her supervisor of this, it should be noted that the supervisor worked from home and would not be present in the office.

4.       On a phone conversation with the supervisor the Complainant mentioned the systematic unacceptable behaviour from Miss X. The Complainant feels that the supervisor tried to ‘play things down’ – “this is just the way she is”.

5.       On Thursday 4th January the Complainant maintains that she was the subject of invalid criticism in an email sent by Miss X.

6.       On Friday 6th January Miss X started shouting at the Complainant after she had sought advice from her in relation to a client issue.

7.       On Wednesday 10th January Miss X was shouting at the Complainant when she was asked to clarify something for the Complainant. The Complainant then asked for clarification by email and sent copies of this email to the supervisor and the team leader. The Complainant wrote the email as follows – “Sorry for the confusion, I was just asking for clarification. I would really appreciate your patience as it is my 3rd order for this client”

8.       On 17th January the Complainant sent an email to the assistant team leader requesting that he help to sort the ongoing situation that the Complainant found herself in with Ms X. Ms X was continuing to uncooperative and disrespectful.

9.       Another email was sent to the assistant team leader requesting help, he had not replied to the email sent to him on 17th January.

10.   Monday 5th February – sent an email to a member of the HR Team asking for information on the process for making a complaint of bullying and harassment. This email was replied to on the same date with a copy of the policy on “Harassment, sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace”. Later the same day the Complainant sent another email to HR requesting a meeting to discuss the details regarding the issue. The Complainant received a reply the same day informing her that her email had been forwarded to the newly appointed HR Manager.

11.   7th February the Complainant received an email from the newly appointed HR Manager informing her that the HR Manager would like to take a couple of days to investigate and confirming that she was willing to meet with the Complainant to discuss things.

12.   8th February - Informal meeting with the Section Manager who informed the Complainant that when anything goes wrong in the section “we try to resolve things without involvingHR”.

13.   9TH February – meeting with newly appointed HR Manager – the Complainant was asked not to talk about the case with anyone who may be involved and to avoid contact with Miss X.

14.   12th February – Complainant invited to a meeting with newly appointed HR Manager and her own Section Manager where she was asked why she had brought a stranger (her boyfriend) into the office. The Complainant explained that he was there to collect some keys from her.

15.   23rd February – the Complainant was contacted by telephone by her Section Manager and asked to attend a meeting. When she arrived at the meeting it was with her Section Manager and the newly appointed HR Manager. At this meeting the Complainant was informed that a woman working in another section was returning from Maternity Leave and that her services would no longer be required. The Complainant was informed that her contract was being terminated immediately and asked to leave the premises.

16.   The Complainant was informed that she would receive two weeks’ pay in lieu of notice.

17.   The job the Complainant was hired for was advertised on a web site on 9th April, a copy of this advert was produced at the hearing.

The Respondent was represented at the hearing by the newly appointed HR Manager.

The investigation undertaken by the HR Manager was ongoing when the Complainant was informed that her contract was being terminated due to another employee returning early from Maternity Leave.

The events as outlined by the Complainant were not being disputed but were the subject of an ongoing investigation that had not been concluded at the time the Complainant left the organisation due to the early return of the employee from Maternity Leave.

In relation to the complaint under the Payment of Wages Act it was the company policy only to pay a bonus to employees who were there at the time of the bonus payments, employees who had left were not paid any bonus. The payment of any bonus is at the discretion of management.

By letter dated 18th October 2017 the bonus payment criteria are very clearly set out.

I have considered this complaint in some detail.

I am quite sure that the situation the Complainant found herself in was not a figment of her imagination and the treatment she received from Ms X constituted bullying.

I believe that the team leaders to whom the Complainant reported could have done more to help and protect the Complainant but possibly were in a situation that they were unsure of exactly what they should be doing. The position of the section manager that when situations of this type arise “we try to resolve them without going to HR” was not helpful in this instance.

I note that the Complainant was paid two weeks’ pay in lieu of notice. From my reading of the contract I believe that the Complainant was due one month’s notice.

I find that the complaint under the Industrial Relations Acts is well found and recommend that a payment of €2,000 is made plus the balance of her notice period that I have calculated to be €1,884.62. Total €3,884.62.

The complaint under the Payment of Wages Act,1991 is not well found and therefore fails.

As outlined above.