ADJUDICATION OFFICER RECOMMENDATION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00013584
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Anonymised Parties | Theatre Assistant Household | A Hospital |
Representatives | Colleen Minihan SIPTU | Sinead Mullins IBEC |
Complaint:
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-00017790-001 | 06/03/2018 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 27/09/2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Peter O'Brien
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts 1969 following 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 Complainant was seeking loss of income and compensation for stress over an alleged bullying incident. |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
The Complainant was subject to relentless and systematic bullying and harassment by one individual. The Complainants health and safety were severely compromised by the failure of the Respondent to act in a fair and reasonable timely manner in the prevention of the bullying. The Complainant had no problem working with other staff but this one individual subjected her to continuous bullying. The Complainant made a formal complaint of bullying on July 31st 2017 and to this day no investigation has occurred. The Complainant was out of work due to the bullying and suffered financial loss of wages and is also seeking compensation for stress.
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Summary of Respondent’s Case:
The Respondent has always sought to conduct an independent investigation and a mutually agreed third party was chosen to conduct the investigation. The Complainant was met both formally and informally to see how the matter could be resolved. The Complainant was formally written to with the offer of not working with the person alleged to be causing the bullying. The Complainant was offered EAP services. The Complainant was on long term sick leave and unable to participate in the Investigation. There were delays in agreeing the process due to vacation of various staff. The Complainant was urged to use internal procedures first but declined to do so. No specific details of the Complainants were provided. When an Independent Investigator was available the Complainants representatives refused to participate in the process. |
Recommendation:
Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Acts, 1969 requires that I make a recommendation in relation to the dispute.
The parties to the dispute sought an urgent recommendation on this issue. In order to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding, the Complainant firstly has the obligation to provide the Respondent with a formal written statement of detailed complaint prior to an investigation process commencing. This must be shared, by the Respondent, with the person whom the allegations are made against to ensure proper and fair procedure. I then recommend that the parties mutually agree a third-party Investigator to complete an Investigation into the claims made by the Complainant and subject to due process this Investigation should be completed within two months of the date of receiving the written complaint and its findings made know to the parties also within that time frame. I see no further role for the Adjudicator to make any further recommendation on the claims, especially the one relating to compensation, as the investigation process has not been completed and both parties appear to have contributed, for valid reasons, to the delay in getting the investigation process completed. |
Dated: October 11th 2018
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Peter O'Brien
Key Words:
Compensation claim |